A Broken Spirit
by Ashana
Summary: Armada. Chap 10 up Raven runs into Joseph and Cyclonus at the same time, and her father is finally given what he deserves! Finished
1. Prologue

Nobody really ever knew what happened around my house. All they knew was I sat alone at lunch, an outcast. I was the person that sat in the very back of the classroom, dressed in dark clothes, coloring my nails and hands with black permanent markers and hiding the scabs that criss-crossed my wrists like a jigsaw puzzle with wristbands. I never owned a short sleeved shirt, and the two tank tops were always worn under fishnet shirts. My jeans were black and baggy; many of them had red or white lining along the seams. When it became cold enough, I wore a trademark baggy, black hoodie over my shirts. These clothes concealed me, concealed who I was, concealed what they did.

I'm the youngest of six kids. Mandy, Joseph, and Jack, all in their early twenties, attend college on honor-roll scholarships. Jay and May, twins, are both seniors. I'm the youngest, a simple, little freshman. I'm also my father and uncles punching bag. My mom, the most kind and beautiful person in the world, is in the hospital in a coma. So, just as everything else that goes wrong, I'm to blame for my mother's condition. In my home, blame leads to pain. Nobody really every knew about it, though.

Well, that's a lie. One person did. He was a warrior, strong and brace. He was cunning and deceitful with friend and foe alike. He was serious as death and funny as the April Fool. He was a great speaker, and a better listener. He was a great teacher, but a better student. His name was Scavenger.

* * *

Just a little story teaser! I know I need to work on my others, but this one really just popped out at me at 11:08 last night! waves around her notebook Please please please review! My inbox has been terribly lonely lately! 


	2. Welcome To My Life

(This takes place before the episode Conspiracy, so Scavenger is still a 'Decepticon'!)

* * *

As most of these stories go, its started off as a perfectly normal day. I dragged myself out of bed around five o'clock and beat my older siblings to the shower, as usual. After practically drowning myself in the hot water, I dried myself off and got dressed. A blank black tank top covered by my Evanescence hoodie, black jeans, and black tennis shoes. I stood in front of the mirror for a few minutes, just looking at my face. My skin was rather pale, which made my dark eyes stand out. Long, straight black hair ran down along the sides of my face, neatly framing it. Picking up a small sea-shell shaped case of cover-up, I began to coat the bruise that was forming around my eye.

"RAVEN!" May, my older sister by four years, pounded on the door. "YOU'VE BEEN IN THERE AN HOUR! IT'S MY TURN!"

"Go use the downstairs bathroom!" I yelled back, pulling out my eye liner. She hit the door with her fist again.

"YOU LITTLE WHORE! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"

"No!" I responded with a deadly calm voice. I was used to this kind of treatment, although it was usually my dad and uncle who were screaming. Checking to make sure the door was locked I drew a pentacle at the corner of my left eye, and then my right. Carefully circling them, I stood back and looked at myself in the mirror. Almost perfect. I pulled a silver chain out of my pocket and snapped it around my neck. A plain, simple silver cross hung down on my chest. I tucked it beneath my clothes, and then turned to unlock the door and let my steaming sister in. That's when I realized that she had gone silent. At first I thought she must have gone downstairs, but that was impossible; she never gave up unless she really was going to be late! Seeing how it was six in the morning and school didn't start for another hour that was not a possibility. I reached for the doorknob. Just as I touched it, however, it fell to the floor with a loud 'thud'. "Oh slag..."

Slag. It's a weird word, huh? I heard a girl on my bus say it a few days ago. Her name is Alexis and she's a real goody-goody seventh grade prep. Anyways, since then I've been saying it a lot; makes up for cussing and getting in trouble, right?

So, the doorknob falls off. That wasn't what I was saying 'oh, slag' about. It was the fact that .000003 seconds later the door flew over, bashing me in the jaw and forcing me back into the bathtub/shower that stood behind the door. I can sum it up in just one word: ow.

The worst was yet to come, however. My sister slammed the door as she came into the small bathroom. It simply rattled and bounced back open an inch or two, but she didn't care. I had fallen straight into the bathroom and was sitting with my body in a u-shape, legs dangling over the edge of the bathtub, head against the wall, my body in between. My head had given a pretty good 'crack' when it hit the wall, and I could feel blood dripping down the back of my neck into my hoodie. Slag.

My sister stood over me, face glowing with pride and hatred. She was a regular beauty queen; perfect blonde hair, perfect blue eyes, perfect skin tone, perfect face shape, perfect body. She was perfection itself. Except for this. Except for the hitting and the screaming. A few weeks after my mom had slipped into her coma after the car accident she stormed into my room and started screaming a hitting me. Like a fool, I hit back and got in the biggest trouble of my life. My dad, Kyle, and my Uncle Louis stormed into my room and began beating me along with my sister. Luckily, Jay, my brother, was at the library at the time. Ever since then I've become the family punching bag. My dad moved me into the attic, onto an old army cot that smells like it was sewn out of sweat socks. Not that I'd ever say that to their faces, though.

Anyway, at the moment the beauty-queen was standing over me, blood lust shinning in her eyes. I mentally kicked myself for getting her angry before she had her coffee. Swallowing slightly, I stared back at her and tried to push myself up out of the tub. No such luck. Her foot came down hard; slamming into my stomach and forcing me back down into the tub.

I could take every fucking word she says  
Throw it in her face  
but would she even care

I still remember when she looked at me  
that frown upon her face  
Trying to be sincere

I choked as she pressed down. She was bigger than me; they all were. I was only around 4'11, while they were all around 5'7 or, in my dad and uncles cases, 6' flat. _Slag it, she's going to kill me this time! I just know it!_ I thought frantically, struggling beneath her foot. I couldn't breath; she was pressing down on my lungs now.

"What's the matter Raven? All choked up?" She laughed at her own joke.

I gathered all those little things she said  
kept them close to me  
trying to make this real  
this cloud will always hover over me  
I'm leaving you today  
'cause now I see

I gritted my teeth; the lame joke didn't help the situation at all. She pressed down again then lifted her foot. I struggled to straighten myself up, my spine hurting like heck, believing that my punishment for the day was over.

Fat chance.

May's back scrubber came out of nowhere and clobbered me in the head. The hard end, not the squishy end. I fell back, letting out a weak cry of surprise. I could see blood dripping off the handle in the dim light of the bathroom. My head lolled onto my chest, and out of the corner of my eye I could see blood, _my _blood, running into the drain, diluted from the water left over from my shower.

"Scream you little freak!" She screamed, waving the back scrubber around hysterically. I was half expecting to look up and see foam and blood coming out of her mouth; she was raving mad!

Suffocate, you suffocate  
That you lie (I don't lie)  
That your fake (I'm not a freak)  
Suffocate, you suffocate  
You always take (I don't take)  
What you can (what I can)

I would not scream. I sunk my teeth into my lower lip, and warm metallic blood flowed across my tongue. I would not scream. I would not scream. I would not scream.

May did not like this. She grabbed my long black hair, the only think I liked about myself, and practically yanked me out of the tub by it. Throwing me against the wall across from the door, she pulled open one of the drawers under the sink and pulled out some shiny, silver scissors. Sliding them into her fingers, she snipped them. Once. Twice. I grabbed my hair, knowing what she was going to do.

I could take every fucking game you play  
Blow it all away  
but would you even care  
I could take all those lies you said to me  
Never go away  
Never disappear

I had three options. One: let her cut my hair and loose the most precious thing in my life other than my mom. Two: scream my head off until the neighbors called the cops or my dad and uncle woke up. Three: defend myself. I don't scream, and I wasn't about to let her cut my hair. Three it was. On my left was the toilet; on my right was the shower head, the bendy kind that hung down about six feet. A plan slowly hatched in my mind.

May advanced slowly, looking like the devil himself. I only had one shot at this. Just as she leaned over me, I jumped to my right, grabbed the shower head, pointed it at her and turned on the water. Hell followed.

"AGH!" May dropped the scissors and fell into the toilet. I would have stayed and laughed my head off, but she tended to bounce back pretty easily. Instead, I leaped for the door, flung it open and raced down the hallway. Jumping down the stairs and into the kitchen, I slid across the linoleum floor and into one of the counters. Looking behind me, I could see some blood splattered across the floor. I touched the back of my head. It came away red and sticky.

"Slag."

This cloud will always hover over me  
I'm leaving you today  
'Cause now I see  
Suffocate, you suffocate  
That you lie (I don't lie)  
That your fake (I'm not a freak)  
Suffocate, you suffocate  
You always take (I don't take)  
What you can (what I can)

"YOU LITTLE WHORE!" I looked up and saw May standing at the top of the steps. That was my cue to run far, far away. Snagging my bag off of the counter, I sprinted out of the kitchen, into the laundry room, and out the back door. Leaping off the porch, I hit the over-grown crab grass and sprinted across the backyard. Pulling myself up over the fence, I dropped down into the woods that bordered the houses in the neighborhood. May wouldn't follow me this far. She's not that athletic.

I could take every fucking game you play  
Blow it all away  
but would you even care  
I could take all those lies you said to me  
Never go away  
Never disappear  
This cloud will always hover over me  
I'm leaving you today  
'Cause now I see

I sprinted through the trees, ducking and dodging the branches. The world was spinning, and I could feel blood leaking down into my tank top. I ignored the pain and continue on. About a mile and a half away from my house were a stream and a small pond. I could wash up and hide out there.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of running, I made it to the small, sparkling pond. I dropped to my knees beside the crystal clear water. Lying my bag down on top of a rock, I pulled off my hoodie and threw it on top of the messenger bag. My face was paler than it had been before. Blood dripped down from the hair, across my brow and down my cheeks before landing in the pool of water with a small, inaudible splash. My make up was smeared around my eyes, making it look as though I was drunk. Taking a deep, shuddery breath, I splashed the water on my face, tinting it with swirls of black and red. After I had cleaned the makeup and blood streaks off of my face, I lie on my back and set my head in the water, washing the blood from the silky black strands of my hair.

As soon as I was sure my head wasn't bleeding, I lifted it from the water and rung out my hair. Sighing heavily, I leaned against the stone my backpack was resting on and closed my eyes. I felt so tired. Slowly, sleep crept up on me, tongue tying my thoughts and forcing me into dreams of darkness.

* * *

When I woke back up, it was dark and I was thirsty and hungry. I sat up and groaned; rocks did not make good pillows. Rubbing the back of my head, that thankfully hadn't started to bleed while I was asleep. Blinking several times, I pulled a can of Pringles out of my bag and began to munch on them. They were barbeque, not a good choice; I didn't have a drink with me, and they were making me terribly thirsty.

After I had choked down the last chip, and put the mini-can in my bag and stood up, stretching. I needed to get back home. I considered running away for a moment, but quickly decided that my $1.50 lunch money wouldn't go very far. The only other choice was going home. Excuse me, the ONLY choice was going home.

Pulling my hoodie back over my still-damp black hair, I wrapped my hand around the silver cross hanging at my neck and said a small prayer. Picking up my bag I followed the stream eastwards. It would take me to a road that went straight through my neighborhood. It was the quickest way home.

Hiking through the forest in the dark is not my forte. I stepped in the trickle of a stream twice and got hit in face by branches thirty-two times, not that I was counting. Finally, two hills, three stream crossings, five more branches and a squirrel stalker later, I reached the road. Panting slightly (the squirrel has smelled my Pringles can and didn't give up until I reached the houses) I tiptoed through a vegetable garden and past a familiar white house. Stepping out onto the sidewalk, I began to walk home, careful not to be spotted by anybody; there was a rule about teenagers being out late now a days, with all the abuse going on in street alleys and such. Ironic, isn't it?

That's why, when I heard a car coming down the street, I automatically jumped into a bush that was conveniently placed right in front of the house I had been walking by. Crouching down in between the branches, I watched as the car rolled to a stop _right in front of me._

_'Slag, slag, slag, slag, SLAG!' _I thought furiously. Swallowing (my mouth was still very dry) I watched as somebody climbed out of the car. Two people; a girl and a boy, came out of the front seat, while a darker boy came out of the back. I held my breath as they stopped and talked for a minute. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but then the blonde boy from the front seat turned and talked---to the car.

"Thanks for the ride, Hot Shot!" He said, patting the hood of the car.

I nearly fell out of the bush at what happened next.

"No problem Rad!" The car responded in a young, slightly childish voice. I could feel my eyes bug out of my head and my jaw drop; thankfully, they couldn't hear my gasp of astonishment. They were all laughing over something the car, apparently named Hot Shot, had just said.

_'Okay...._' the rational part of my brain said, _'cars do NOT talk.' _I nodded to myself. Finally, something I could be certain about! Someone must have been left in the car; the driver. They were to young to drive. The girl turned around, and I recognized her as Alexis, the wonderful person that had introduced me to the word 'slag'. _'She's to young to drive, so the person who spoke HAS to be the driver of the car.'_ This thought firmly in my mind, I watched as the three kids departed, walking right past my hiding place. I had a clear view of the car. Shifting slightly once the kids were out of hearing range, I looked into the front seat.

It was empty.

_'SLAG! SLAG! SLAGSLAGSLAG SLAG!'_ I thought to myself, most probably violating a law by using that word so many times in a row. The car had spoken. Another thing I could mark off of my 'I'm surely positive' list. Craning my neck some, I could see that the yellow hot rod had a weird type of dashboard, with what looked like a T.V. screen built into it. _'Okay...that is not a NORMAL car....not that there's such a thing as normal. Well, there are limits, like for your body temperature and things like that...'_ My mental conversation was cut short as the car revved its engine, ready to take off.

My choices: go home, stay in the bush until morning, or tail the car. Going home was not an option, the bushes branches were digging into my back, and I was already dying with curiosity to see how the car had talked. Option number three won by a landslide.

The car revved its engine once more then took off down the road. I stood up (the others had already gone inside or turned the corner three houses away) and waited for the car to come back; this road led to a dead end, at which I lived. Heh, dead end. Does the irony never stop?

Anyway, I quickly crossed the street and waited behind a tree for it to come back. Half a minute later it did, going considerably slower this time, but still about ten miles above the speed limit. I watched as it turned the corner two houses down then took off in between the yards behind me. I had a clear view of the street, and a clear path in front of me. It went straight, but seemed to be slowing down a little bit. For a second I thought it had spotted me. Then, however, a second car came into view. About three minutes after my little chase had started, the car turned onto a dirt road that wound up the mountain side. I paused, panting. The road only went one way; it would be easy to tail it.

After making sure the other car was long gone, I sneaked through yet another vegetable garden and across the street, into the woods that bordered the dirt road. I crept up the hillside until I was certain that nobody would see me. Then I stepped out onto the road and began to run after the car. It was probably at the top by now. The road curved around the mountainside, spiraling towards the top. I sprinted up it as fast as my legs would allow, taking the corners sharply.

"Look, Smokescreen, I'm sure nobody followed me."

Halfway up the hill, I froze. The same voice from the car drifted out of a cave a little ways ahead. I slowly climbed towards it, stopping at the edge. The cave was pretty shallow. About thirty feet in, I could see two robot-like figures standing in front of a large door that was spilling yellowish light into the night. The fact that they were robots didn't scare me. The fact that they were about ten times my size did. One was yellow, while the other was orange. The yellow one that had the same voice as the car from before was arguing with the orange one.

"Ah, come on Smokey! You know nobody could have tailed me! Our sensors would have picked it up!"

"The sensors have been down for three weeks." Mr. Orange argued. The yellow one sighed.

"Fine! If anything follows us in, then its my fault, okay?" He snapped.

Mr. Orange considered this for a moment. "Fine." He stepped to the side, allowing Yellow Head to come in. A silver door slid shut behind them.

I could have stood out there all night gaping, my mouth practically touching the ground. I was not planning on going into the cave, not even for a hundred dollars. Sure, they had seemed friendly to Alexis and her friends, but what if they were faking it? What if they were mean like my dad and uncle and siblings? No, I was not going in the cave.

Apparently, fate decided that I was supposed to, because just as I was about to turn around and go home, lightening struck and rain came down in a sheet, hitting the ground all at once. It rung through the mountains and echoed in the cave, like a guillotine slicing off the martyrs head. I was soaked to the bone in seconds. Like any insane person would, I ran into the cave.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Going into the cave stirred my curiosity from before. I walked toward the doors, which somehow seemed to blend into the walls. I couldn't explain it, really. Anyway, I'm walking towards these doors and just as I step within three feet of them, they slide open. Instinct number one: Panic. Instinct number two: Hide. Instinct number three: Look. I panicked, jumped behind a rock, and then looked. The hallway was empty. The doors began to slide closed again. I took a step forward and they paused, and then slid back open. I lifted my foot; they began to close. I put my foot down; they opened back up. _'Pressure sensors in the floor.' _I though to myself, carefully approaching the empty hall. Behind me, the cave was beginning to flood. I stepped carefully through the doors. With a whoosh and a bang, they slammed shut behind me.

"SLAG!" I shouted without thinking. Quickly covering my mouth after my brain had caught up with me, I looked around; nobody had heard. Taking a deep breath, I stared down the straight hallway. If I was going to find a way out, I had to start walking. There was a turn about twenty feet down the hall; that was a start. I tried hard not to run towards it. I should have. Maybe then I wouldn't have stepped through the laser tripwire.

An alarm rang through the metal hall, waking me up. I covered my ears and wet hair with my hands, shutting my eyes tightly. Through the alarm and my hands, however, I could hear footsteps. Looking up, I saw the yellow bot from before standing at the end of the hallway, coming towards me.

I have never run so fast in my entire life.

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Woot! First chapter's up! Hope you guys liked it! REVIEW IF YOU WANT MORE! I would like at least five review for this chapter, if not more, so please REVIEW! Toodles!  
  
NOTE: If I get a 'D' or 'F' in English (believe it or not. Honors English SUCKS!) I'm off the computer for six weeks! But never fear, for I have keyboarding! So I might be able to post still! Report cards come out Thursday or Friday, so wish me luck! 


	3. Just One

OMG! I think I'm going to cry! You guys are so awesome! Look at all of these reviews!  
  
Raven: (to Scavenger) She's been going on like this for the past few days. Think we should put her out of her misery?  
  
Scavenger: Just a few more minutes. Got any threes, Yellow-head?  
  
Hot Shot: (glares and throws two cards at him)  
  
Scavenger: Ha! I win!  
  
Okay, seriously, thank you for all of your wonderful reviews! I love you all so much! (Huggles everybody) Okay, now, without further ado, I present to you, chapter 2!  
  
Hot Shot: Hey, that all rhymed!

* * *

**_A Broken Spirit_**

**__**

**_Chapter 2_**

**_Just One_**

Okay, so I didn't exactly run. It was more of a backing-up-rapidly-tripping-over-myself-until-I-ran-into-the-doors type thing. I hit the doors just as the alarms stopped, which was a huge relief to my poor ears. Yellow-head paused, watching me closely, not that there was anything I could do at the moment.

"Remember, Hot Shot, this is your entire fault." A smug voice commented. The orange bot had returned and was smirking like nobodies business. The yellow-head, who I was certain by now, was named Hot Shot, scowled.

"Shut up Smokescreen." He muttered, before turning to face me. I was leaning up against the door, wishing that I could somehow melt through the thick metal into the cave. My legs were shaking and I wasn't sure I could hold myself up much longer. My bag was suddenly very heavy. It slowly slid off of my shoulder and hit the ground with a loud 'thump', right against the door. With a small jerk and a creak, it slid open, sending me to the ground. I landed on my rear end on the only dry spot in the entire cave. I blinked, looked at the cave entrance (the rain was still coming down hard) and then looked back at the robots, who were nearly as startled as I was.

"That'll work." I said, grabbing my bag and sprinting into the muddy cave. I heard Mr. Orange/Smokescreen start yelling.

"Red Alert said he locked the base down!"

"He must have canceled the emergency lock down system to shut off the automatic defense weapons!"

"Come on, if she gets away without an explanation she'll tell everybody about us!"

By then I was at the mouth of the cave, trying to decide whether risking pneumonia was worth getting away from the robots. Glancing at the two, who had made it to the doors, I quickly decided it was. I plunged into the pounding rain, nearly sinking to my doom in the muddy path that was quickly becoming a river. Stepping up onto a rock, I jumped to another, staying out of the mud as much as possible. I continued this was for a few moments, glancing behind only when I was sure I was a good distance away. The two robots, as heavy as they were, had immediately been sucked down into the mud and were trying desperately to keep up with me. I smirked and jumped onto a log that was jutting out of the path, at the very edge.

Bad choice.

Kids, take it from me. Drugs are bad. Nearly as bad as sliding down a steep, muddy mountain side on a piece of dead wood. Fortunately, my screams were drowned out by a sudden burst of thunder. The robots yells, however, were not. I heard the yellow-head yell 'hang on' and the other one yelling something about a red alert, though I didn't know what that had to do with the situation. For the first 7 seconds I did a pretty good job of staying up right, but then my mud-board hit a branch that was protruding out of muddy hillside. You know how everybody brags about doing 180's and junk? Well, trying doing a horizontal 360 without a board to land on.

Ow.

I tumbled the rest of the way down the mountain side, rolling through the mud and hitting every branch possible on the way down, as though somebody had put them there just for that reason. Reminding myself that everybody I knew other than my mom hated me, I quickly realized that that could very well be. After half a minute of rolling down a 50 ft. long hill, I hit the ground. Well, the mud. Apparently, a stream that came close by had overflowed, creating a mud puddle that came all the way up to my knees when I stood. I spit some of the brown junk out of my mouth as I struggled to keep my balance. Pulling an arm across my lips, I looked up the mountain side to where the two robots were watching me. I flashed them a smug grin, tightened my hand around my backpack strap, and took off into the woods.

Jumping over the over the over-flowing stream, I ran beneath the tall trees. The paths had become deep and muddy with the heavy rainfall, and every rock I stepped on was slick and threatened to send me to the ground. The rain had completely soaked through my hoodie and my shirt was sticking to my skin. My bag swung wildly, hitting my legs and catching on trees and branches. Cursing the Algebra text book I was carrying, I rounded a corner in the path.

**BAM!**

"Ouchies..." I groaned, lying on my back, my bag a few feet away. Blinking, I looked up at what I had run and felt my blood run cold.

"Human..." The purple and green robot hissed. I was tempted to say, 'why yes, I am,' but fear kept my big mouth shut. The robot sneered; as though he had heard my comment anyway, and reached down to grab me.

"Get away from her, Scavenger!" Yellow-head was back. He had a pistol in his hand and was aiming it at the newcomers face. Purple and green smirked, his hand hovering a few feet above my head. I felt like a very small bug.

"Look at her shake, Hot Shot. She's free game." He hissed. "She's not one of your _**pets**._"

Hot Shot's eye-thingies narrowed in extreme anger; the type of anger my dad often showed when he was drunk. He tossed his gun to the side and, with a very loud yell, tackled purple and green. The both crashed to the ground, making two or three nearby trees crash to the ground. Luckily, they all missed me. I watched as the two robots rolled around on the ground, coated in mud, yelling death threats at each other in a language I couldn't understand. How did I know they were death threats? Don't ask.

"ARGH!" The oh-so-scarily familiar sound of glass breaking filled the clearing. I watched as Hot Shot withdrew his fist from Scavengers face. It was covered in energon and had several sharp shards of gold glass in it. Looking at the purple and green bot, I could see that one of his eye panels had shattered. I shivered; it looked as though it had hurt, for BOTH of them. It didn't stop Hot Shot, though. He was obviously pissed off at the 'pet' comment. That's when I finally came to realize something; those two were so wrapped up in their fight that they wouldn't notice if I slipped away into the woods!

Sometimes I amaze myself.

Grabbing my bag, I stumbled to my feet and sprinted towards the woods. I could hear the two bots still shouting at each other, and the sounds of them fighting. Stopping behind a tree (yeah, yeah, stupid, I know!) and looked at them. Scavenger had Hot Shot pinned down, and was grinning in triumph. He glanced over to where I had been before, and froze. My plan had worked. Ducking behind the thick tree trunk before me, I waited until I was sure he was looking at Hot Shot again to peek back out.

"You got lucky this time." He growled, before suddenly dissolving into thousands of small cubes and disappearing. Hot Shot stayed still for a moment, before finally sitting up and brushing as much mud as he could off of him. The rain swept away a lot of it. _Must be nice not having to worry about getting your clothes dirty._

"You're hiding behind the third tree from the stream." He said. Pulling myself back into the present, I noticed that he was staring straight at me. Currently, I was halfway out from behind the tree, pretty much in plain sight. Glancing at the stream, which was overflowing its banks, I counted. Third three from the stream....scary. "I'm Hot Shot." Yellow-head said. I gave him a half grin.

"So I've gathered." I felt safe in the trees; I could easily get away from him. The old oaks and maples grew close together. It would be impossible for him to get through in time to catch me. I was safe, and safety gave me confidence. "Why have you been chasing me?"

"We-my team mates and I- didn't want you to go tell anybody about us." He explained, wiping some rain droplets out of his eyes.

"Do you actually think anybody would believe me?" I asked. He considered this for a moment.

"Well, there are some eccentrics on every planet, and if one of them heard your story they would be bound to come after us."

"That makes sense, I guess." I agreed, nodding.

"So, who are you?" Hot Shot asked. My head snapped straight, and I looked up into his optics.

"Nobody special." With that I turned and walked away into the trees.

Stupid.

Stupid.

Stupid.

I bounded up the back steps, fully intent on going to my 'room' and sleeping; I didn't care what the cot smelled like anymore. Carefully stepping over the third board from the door (it always squeaked) I tested the screen door. Unlocked. Swinging it open as quietly as I could (which is pretty quiet if your carefully enough) I kicked off my muddy tennis shoes and stepped into the dark kitchen. Glancing at the oven timer, I nearly fainted with delight. It was three in the morning! Nobody would be up this early! Nearly doing a happy dance, I shut the screen door and put my bag on the ground.

**Flick**

The lights flashed on. Standing in the doorway that separated the kitchen and the living room was a tall man with a very strong build. His head was hanging low and all we wore were a pair of grey sweatpants. Oily red hair streaked with grey hung down across his face. Clutched tightly in his hand was a metal baseball bat.

"Oh no..." I gasped, taking a step back. My father, Kyle, lifted his head. It wobbled uncertainly, as though his neck couldn't hold it up.

"Raven?" Kyle asked in a slurred voice, taking a step into the kitchen. His green eyes slid around uncertainly, finally coming to rest on me. "Where have you been, Ravie?" He took a shaky step forward. "You missed dinner last night. You know you aren't supposed to miss dinner."

**_I wanna live, I wanna leave  
I wanna open up and breath  
I wanna go, I wanna be  
I wanna feel it constantly  
gotta show, gotta say  
I've gotta feeling that won't go away  
I've gotta know if they got away  
my opportunities_**

"I...I'm sorry sir. I was....I was at my...friends house studying." I managed to stutter. Just then May appeared on the stairs, a beer bottle dangling from her hand. I felt my heart stop. One drunk I could handle. Not two.

"Liar!" May hiccupped. "You don't have any friends." She swayed, and for a moment I thought she would fall down the stairs. "You skipped school and dinner just to get into trouble."

**_Just one chance is all I ever wanted  
just one time I'd like to win the game  
from now on I'll take the chance if I can have it  
just one, just one_**

"You know I don't like lying, Raven." Kyle took another step forward, baseball bat swinging back and forth in his hand like a pendulum. "You know I punish people who lie to me." He hiccupped. May stumbled down the stairs.

"Can I have a whack at her daddy?" She asked drunkenly.

**_I need to think, I need to feed  
I need to see if I still bleed  
I need a place, I need a time  
cause I need to step outside that line  
gonna give, gonna take  
I'm gonna scream till I'm awake  
I'm gonna push, I'm gonna pull  
open up the door_**

"Louise?" I called out cautiously. If he was drunk, then I was screwed.

"Uncle Louis is out with friends." My dad crooned. "It's just us tonight."

"Where...where's Jay?" I asked, backing up against the door.

"He's sleeping over at his real friend's house!" May cackled. "But we don't need him here to have a good time!"

Jay was the only one who could have saved me. Unlike the rest of my family (minus my mothers) he didn't drink, and he would at least try and stop my dad and insane sister.

**_Just one chance is all I ever wanted  
just one time I'd like to win the game  
from now on I'll take the chance if I can have it  
just one, just one_**

I pushed myself up against the door as the two advanced. The baseball bat in my fathers hand was gaining momentum with every swing it took. My stomach twisted into a horrible knot. I couldn't breath. Slowly, they came closer. Reaching out, I grabbed the doorknob and twisted it.

_It was stuck._

**_And if I knew  
when the door was open  
I'd go through  
I would go on through  
and I can say  
when I do I'll never be the same  
never be the same  
  
Just one chance is all I ever wanted  
just one time I'd like to win the game  
from now on I'll take the chance if I can have it  
just one, just one  
  
Just one I'll take the chance if I can have it  
just one I'll take the chance if I can have it  
just one I'll take the chance if I can have it  
just one, just one_**

* * *

There you guys go! Chapter 2! Please Please Review!  
  
Hot Shot: Hey, that rhymed again! 

Scavenger: (doing a happy dance) I won! I won! I won!

(Glare) Stop being happy! It's a sad ending!  
  
Both: Sorry (hug each other dramatically and start to cry)

Okay, please review again! I luv you guys for your last reviews! Please please tell me what you want to see, and you might just get to see it! Oh, and you get to meet Raven's oldest brother, Joseph, in the next chapter! So Please review! Luv you all and goodnight!

**PS: I GOT A 'D' IN ENGLISH AND MY MOM IS STILL GIVING ME COMPUTER TIME! YAYS!**

**PPS: The lyrics are 'Just One' by Hoobastank! The song from the first chapter is Suffocate by Cold! Yays! Luv you all!**


	4. Captive

Somebody was running his hand through my hair.

Funny, huh? My head is pounding, my arms and legs are aching, and I can barely feel my fingers or toes, and the first thing I notice is somebody touching my head. Ah well; some things you just cannot explain.

I gasped and my eyes snapped open. I tossed my head from side to side, looking for whoever was touching me. A hand laid itself on my forehead, stopping my wild movements.

"Shhhh, calm down." A soft voice said. Blinking, I looking up at the man standing over me. He was around twenty-five, with messy dark brown hair and flashing green eyes. A frown was set heavy on his lips, and his forehead was furrowed. "You're going to hurt yourself." He whispered.

"Joseph?" I asked, dumbfound. "What are you doing here?"

He chuckled. "What, I'm not allowed to check in on my little sister now and then?" He asked, brushing a strand of my black hair away from my face.

"What about college? What about your job?"

"I took a leave due to family matters." He said softly, sitting down next to me. It was then that I finally noticed I was lying on the big queen-sized bed in the guest room. Joseph had wrapped me up in a soft afghan that my mom had made before the crash. It was a deep, rich ocean blue.

"Mom's been in a coma for three weeks, and you're just now coming down?" I asked, giving him a blank look.

"I couldn't get off before now. Actually, I wasn't planning until coming down for another week, but Jay e-mailed me two days ago and said that dad wasn't in a good mood and was close to getting fired. I got here as quickly as I could." He frowned and curled a strand of my hair around his finger. "Unfortunately, I didn't get down here soon enough."

"What?"

Joseph gave a morbid chuckle. "Makes sense that you don't remember; dad hit you pretty hard."

_Hit...._It all came back in a rush. Kyle and May had started hitting me, swinging at me with the baseball bat now and again. I had gotten beaten up pretty badly when the front door had burst open and Joseph rushed in. He had restrained them until they finally passed out. Just barely, I remembered him picking me up and carrying me up the stairs, out of the kitchen. Then I had passed out.

Slowly, I pulled my right arm out of the afghan and touched my head. A bandage was wound around my head. I felt part of it become stiff from the dried blood it had stopped. I shuddered and slid my hand back into the blanket; it was freezing! I felt Joseph wind his hand around my shoulders and pull me into a tight hug. I relaxed against him and sighed, taking in his familiar scent. Joseph and Jay had always been the ones that looked out for me. Often times, Joseph more than Jay. He was the oldest of us six kids, and took right after our mother. I felt him stroke the back of my head.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner."

"It's not your fault. Its mine. I was gone for two days. I should have known not to come home during the middle of the night."

"Two days?" Joseph leaned back. "Where the heck were you for two whole days?"

"Out in the forest."

"Of course."

"Hey Jo?"

"Yeah Rave?"

"You don't think I'm crazy, do you?"

"I don't know..."

"Joseph!"

"I'm just playing! Of course I don't think you're crazy."

"Okay."

"Why?"

"Just wondering."

"That's a big yawn. Why don't you go back to sleep? The doors locked; nobody will bother you."

"Thank you."

"Night."

"Night."

Nearly six hours later I woke back up. I was still in the guest room, curled up in the afghan. Yawning, I nestled my head into the pillow and closed my eyes once more; this was a luxury to me!

A loud banging on the door brought me out of my trance. I sat up fast, clutching the afghan around my shoulders. I could hear shouting on the other side of the door, and then a nasty crack. Wincing at what I imagined the crack to be, I pulled my legs up to my chest. In the process, I knocked something off of the bed. It landed on the floor with a soft 'thump.' I blinked and looked at the foot of the guest bed. A pile of black clothes were folded neatly at the edge, along with a leather backpack.

"What the heck?" I asked, allowing the afghan to drop from my shoulders. Joseph had taken off my evanescence hoodie so he could bandage up a cut on my arm, so all I had on was my slightly-damp tank top and my mud-encrusted jeans. Crawling across the multi-covered quilt that was laid across the bed, I grabbed the black clothes and pulled them towards me. A note was pinned to the top of the fabric.

_Raven,_

_Just in case!_

_I love you,_

_Joseph_

Tucking the note into my pocket, I inspected the clothes. A black tank top, another fishnet top, a clean pair of black jeans, and a pair of black boots that had once belonged to Joseph himself. Depositing these at my side, I inspected the backpack. My brother had packed it with enough food to last three days. He had also included my notebook, sketchbook and a pack of pencils. I smiled at this; he hadn't forgotten how much I enjoyed sketching.

My head snapped up to the door as it shuddered again. Quietly sliding off the bed, I pulled off my shirt and jeans, changing into the clean ones Joseph had left me. My foot nudged the thing I had knocked off of the bed; a black hoodie with a tragedy and comedy mask logo. Pulling it on over top of my shirt and fishnet, I shoved the blue afghan into the backpack and slung it across my back. I door shuddered once more, and I saw the center of it splinter.

Tiptoeing to the window, I slid it open. It creaked slightly, but not enough to give me away. Swinging my leg over the sill, I stepped onto the roof of the back porch. Carefully following through with my other leg, I turned around and closed the window. Before I shut it all the way, however, I heard Kyle yell something about my mom. Shaking my head, I snapped it shut and began to shuffle towards the edge of the roof. Carefully skirting around a loose tile, I crouched down beside the gutter and looked down. I was around ten feet above the ground.

"Great." I muttered sarcastically, taking off the backpack. I dropped it down onto an extremely grassy spot. It landed with a nearly inaudible 'plop' and fell forward. A pencil dramatically rolled out, stopping when it hit a small white mushroom. I raised my eyebrows, then shook my head and focused on turning around without slipping. Slowly, I eased myself off of the roof, wrapping my legs around one of the support columns as I went. Carefully inching my way down the column, I soon reached the ground, and not a moment too soon. Above me, I heard the guest room door shatter. "Thank the gods." I said to myself, grabbing my backpack and sprinting across the backyard. Scrambling over the tall fence, I escaped into the forest.

I was lost. Very, very lost. It was around ten in the morning, and the trees seemed to stretch high above my head, which was spinning confusedly. I stumbled and fell against a sturdy old oak tree, panting. I didn't know why my dad was so angry with me; I hadn't done anything wrong, had I? Sliding down against the tree trunk, I pulled a pack of snack crackers out of my bag and eagerly bit into one. My stomach growled a thank you as I devoured the rest of the pack. Crumpling up the colorful plastic wrapper, I dropped it into my bag and leaned against the tree, closing my eyes.

**BAM!**

"WHAT THE HECK?" I screamed, jumping to my feet. Swinging my bag up onto my back, I looked around wildly. A second explosion rocked my surroundings, sending several of the fall leaves drifting to the ground. I fell back against the tree as the earth gave way to several violent tremors. Faintly, above the sound of tree branches shifting and birds screeching, I could hear shouting and the sound of a helicopter rotor. It was growing louder by the second. Hitching my backpack higher, I took off running through the trees. As though stalking me, the helicopter rotors only grew closer. Finally, I burst out into a large clearing. The tall grass whipped up around my legs as the helicopter came to hover right above me. Placing my arms in a cross above my head to block the man-made wind from my eyes, I looked up into the cockpit of the helicopter.

Nobody was there.

"Hehehe, lookie what I found!" The helicopter laughed, a tint of insanity echoing through his voice. Resisting the urge to cuss out fate, I took off across the field, although not as fast as I would have liked. The tall grass held me up just a little bit. "Oh goody, a chase!" The helicopter cheered as he came across the field after me. Stumbling over an old fallen log, concealed by the grass and some sweet smelling flowers, I felt my hair fly back away from my head, caught in a strong gale. He was gaining.

"EEK!" My foot caught on a stone, and I landed hard on the ground, effectively flattening all of the grass within two feet. My backpack half-fell, twisting painfully around my arm. Wincing, I pulled my sleeve free and looked up at the helicopter, who was laughing again.

"Awww, poor little squishy!" The helicopter cackled. I rolled onto my back up looked up at the helicopter in fright. "TRANSFORM!" My mouth practically dropped to the ground as the helicopters armor shifted around, forming a yellow, silver and purple robot. He landed on the ground, one foot on either side of me, a triumphant grin on his face. "Oh, Megatron's going to be so pleased with me!" He said to himself, looking down at me. An evil grin suddenly seemed to cross his face as he reached for me. "He might even let me keep you as a pet!"

'_I'm gonna die!' _I managed to think as I tried to push myself away from the oncoming hand. Before I could get to my feet and run, however, five tree-trunk like metal fingers encircled my beaten and bruised body. I let out a strangled cry of fright as my feet left the ground. The copter-bot gave me a less-than-gentle pat on the head. "No need to scream, squishy." He said, tightening his fist to accent the hidden order. "I'll take real good care of you."

"Take care of THIS, Cyclonus!" A familiar voice yelled as a grey and yellow fist slammed into the robots face. He flew back into the trees, crashing through them as though they were no more than toothpicks. Unfortunately, Hot Shot's obvious plan (Cyclonus letting go of me to catch himself) failed. The robots fist tightened painfully around my already injured body as he slid along the ground a good two hundred or so feet, only stopping when he hit the solid rock wall of Bear Claw Cliff. He sat there, dazed, his hands lying in his lap. His fingers were still curled around my tensed body, but they slowly relaxed as he came to his senses. Before he could stand back up on his unsteady feet, however, a shadow eclipsed us, and we found ourselves looking at a very, very angry yellow-head.

"Let." He had his pistol pointing at Cyclonus's face. "Her." A small ball of light began to gather at the tip of the barrel. "Go." He pulled back his lips in a triumphant grin and Cyclonus slowly raised his hand, with me in it, up towards his adversary. Gently, I was picked up by my hoodie and slid down into the palm of Hot Shot's free hand.

"Are you alright?" He asked. I swallowed hard and gave a slight nod. He gave me a grin, and then turned back to Cyclonus, as though trying to decide whether or not to blow his face in. I relaxed in his hand, glad that for the moment, at least, I was safe. Until I noticed a black shape emerge from the trees right behind Hot Shot.

"Look out!" I screamed. The bot turned halfway in surprise before a fist collided with the side of his face, sending him-and me-to the ground. Amazingly, I managed to keep my grip and stay in his hand. My right arm was looped around his middle finger, while my left clutched the cross around my neck. Our attacker glared down at us with livid crimson eye panels that were slanted in rage. He had two large horns protruding from his helmet that rivaled the height of his shoulders. Slowly, his eyes traveled down from Hot Shots terrified yet defiant face to me, who was crouching behind his fingers, scared out of my wits. He smirked and began to reach for me.

"Not so fast, Megatron!" Someone yelled with a voice that was heavily laden with authority. All four of us glanced over to the source of the shout. A fourth robot stood there, large than Hot Shot and Cyclonus, but slightly smaller than horn-head. He had a silver pistol in his hand and was glaring daggers at our captors.

Horn-head chuckled. "Ah, Optimus Prime, what a surprise." He said sarcastically. Optimus frowned beneath his grayish-silver faceplate.

"Let them go Megatron!" He shouted angrily. Horn-head smirked and withdrew his hand, turning to face Optimus. His hands curled into fists at his side as the two glared at each other. Without warning, he wheeled around and swung his fist hard. It made easy connection with the side of Hot Shot's face. He crashed to the ground, curling his fingers tightly around my battered frame as he did so.

"Hot Shot!" I heard Optimus shout. The bot didn't move. Groaning, I managed to struggle to my knees and look up at him. His eye panels were dark, and there was a deep dent on his cheek. My thoughts were torn away from him, however, as another hand wrapped itself around my shaking frame. It was Cyclonus.

"Megatron, I got her!" He shouted, holding me tightly and waving his fist around, making my stomach lurch. Horn-head smirked at Optimus.

"Retreat to the base, Cyclonus!" He ordered. "We'll follow as soon as we've found that blasted Minicon!"

"Yes sir!" Cyclonus shouted, making me wince. He held his opposite arm up to his face as a small panel flipped open. "Warp drive! Destination: Decepticon base!" He commanded.

My body was suddenly falling apart into thousands of pieces. I gasped as the world around me blurred, then was replaced with a square gray room. I went limp in Cyclonus's hand, feeling dizzy and weak. I was half conscious of the copter-bot walking somewhere, and then lying me down on a smooth cold surface somewhere dark. I closed my eyes tightly and pulled my legs up to my chest, tucking myself into a ball. Gradually, I blacked out.

I woke up a few hours later. My head was aching and I was hungry again, but at the moment I was too worried about the five bots that were looking down at me to care. I recognized Megatron, Cyclonus and Scavenger, but not the other two. One was brown with two green eye-panels that were different sizes and a curious look on his face. The last one was red and white and orange eyes and a sneer upon his lips.

"Aw, Megatron, can't I keep her!" Cyclonus whined, not caring if I was awake or not.

"I barely trust you with your own minicon." Megatron snapped. "Why would I trust you with something as fragile as a human?" Silently, I thanked Megatron for his insight. "No, I need someone who can assuredly keep a human alive until we need to use her." My little thanks went right out the window. He looked at the remaining three. He grinned. "Scavenger."

"Yes sir?" Scavenger replied, fully aware of what Megatron was about to assign him.

"You will take care of the girl until the Autobots come to their senses and give into our demands." He ordered.

Scavenger frowned and glanced down at me, then back up at Megatron. He obviously wanted to protest. After all, who would want to be _assigned _babysitting duty? One glare from his leader, however, sent him into silence. He sighed and gave a slight nod. "Yes sir."

"Good." Megatron smirked before leaving the room. Cyclonus and the other two followed, leaving me staring up at Scavengers hardened face.

"Come on girl." He said after a minute, setting his hand flat on the table next to me, palm facing the ceiling. I stumbled to my feet and just looked at it for a moment, considering the consequences if I refused to. "You forget yourself, human." Scavenger snarled, noting my hesitation. Reminding myself that I didn't have a choice in the matter, I clumsily approached his hand. My legs still felt weak, and my stomach was churning with hunger. The cuts and bruises from when my dad and sister attacked me in the kitchen burned, as though someone had rubbed salt water in them. "Pitiful." He scoffed before snagging the back of my hoodie and dropping me into the palm of his other hand. Straightening up, he walked around the table and out of the room.

I sat hunched over in Scavenger hand, arms wrapped around my stomach, looking down at my feet. He walked down a rusted, dim hallway that had wires criss-crossing the ceiling. He paused in front of a badly dented door. The scary thing about it was, the dent came from the _inside._ I tensed as the door slid open, sticking momentarily when the dented part tried to slide into the slot in the wall. Scavenger growled and kicked it, effectively sending the dent back into place and allowing it to slide the rest of the way in. I sat riveted on his hand, staring at the door. If he could do that to steel, then what could he do to _me?_

I barely glanced around the small (to him, at least) room we entered. A large steel table rested against the far wall, resembling the one I had woken up on. Beside it was an equally large desk that was dwarfed by an even larger computer. Other than a chair that was shoved under the desk among thousands of wires, the room was empty. Taking a second look, I saw that several spots on the walls, floor, and even the ceiling were dented. My body gave way to an involuntary shudder.

Scavenger's footsteps echoed loudly around the silent room. He crossed the dust-covered floor, stopping at the desk. Sweeping away a bunch of wires, he set me down on the cold steel. I sat on my knees, arms wrapped around my stomach, watching him. He pulled out one of the drawers set into the desk and rummaged through it, fully aware that I was watching him.

"Take off your shirt." He ordered, pulling out a long rod that resembled a glow-stick. I blanched.

"Excuse me?"

"Take off your shirt. You have an extra one on, do you not?" He laid down the glow-stick and began to look for something else. "It will mess up the scan if you keep both of them on."

"Scan?" I asked, tugging defiantly at the bottom of my hoodie; I didn't want to take it off. Wherever we were, it was freezing!

"You're injured." He said while pulling out what looked like a mattress made out of cotton. He set it down beside me, frowning. "Now take off your extra shirt." His voice held no room for argument. Swallowing hard, I looked away from him and pulled my hoodie off over my head. I felt his eye-things travel up and down my bruised and cut arms and shoulders. They landed on the faded red scar the crossed my stomach, very visible through the fishnet top. Instinctively, I reached up and wrapped my fingers around the bottom part of the silver cross hanging around my neck. The chain rattled, and I felt Scavenger's gaze fall to my fist and the charm within it. "Take that off too. It will interfere with the scan."

I froze; take off my necklace? I gripped it harder; I couldn't! I wouldn't! My cross never left my neck, unless I was taking a shower, because the water would hurt it. "I...I can't." I stuttered, praying to the heavens that Scavenger wouldn't be mad.

"Oh? And why can't you?" The bot asked, more amused then mad. "You have no disabilities that would prevent you from taking it off, and it is in no way grafted to your skin. So why can't you take it off?"

"I...I just can't."

Scavenger frowned; that was not the answer he wanted. "What could be so important about that charm that you cannot remove it from your person for five of your earth minutes?"

"I just can't!" I said, defensively, gripping my cross harder. There was a sharp pain that cut across my palm and I pulled my hand away from the charm in surprise; it had slit open my hand! I dropped the cross-which was dripping blood-and stared at my hand in surprise; that was all Scavenger needed. His fingers nimbly snatched the cross and-less gently-yanked. The chain snapped, making a small scratch across the back of my neck. I let out a startled gasp as the momentum of the pull sent me forward, forcing me to catch myself with both hands. My cut hand, which was bleeding pretty heavily by now, slipped in my own blood and sent me down onto my face.

Scavenger snorted. Pushing myself up with my arms, I looked at him. He was holding the cross between two of his fingers and examining it. He glanced down at me, and the blood that was slowly dripping from my hand. "Things of sentimental value only cause pain, girl." He said, bringing his two fingers together. There was a loud crack, and the cross clattered to the desk in front of me, only now in four separate shards.

"No..." I gasped, stumbling to my feet and running over to them. Bending down, I gathered up the four pieces in my hands and held them tightly. That's when I lost all of my senses. "YOU JERK! THIS WAS THE ONLY THING I HAD TO REMIND ME OF MY MOM, WHO'S CURRENTLY IN THE HOSPITAL DYING, AND YOU JUST CRUSHED IT!" I screamed. It no longer mattered that he was bigger and stronger than me and that I had no way of defending myself. The only thing that mattered was getting my anger through his thick, cruel skull. "JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE BIGGER THAN ME DOESN'T MEAN YOU CAN GO AROUND AND STEAL MY THINGS AND BREAK THEM! THIS IS THE ONLY THING I'VE EVER HAD THAT HAS EVER MEANT ANYTHING TO ME! WHAT MAKES YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN DESTROY THE ONE THING I LOVE?"

Scavenger gave me an amused look as I stopped to take a breath. Then it dawned on me; I had just yelled at someone who was much, much bigger and stronger than I was. The last time I had done that, I have gotten a baseball bat to the head. Slowly, I looked up at Scavenger. His yellow-eye panels met mine, and I swallowed. They were amused, yes, but behind them I could see real anger.

His hand came out of nowhere, colliding with my side and sending me to the ground. Well, almost. Before I could hit the cold metal of the desk, his fingers curled around my flailing form and hoisted me into the air. I let out a startled, panicked cry as he stepped away from the desk and opened his palm. Before I could blink, he had snagged the back of my shirt and extended his arm high above his head, so it was straight. I gulped and my muscles instinctively tightened, ready for a blow. Unfortunately, that blow would come about a forty feet below. With a cruel smirk, Scavenger let go of the back of my shirt.

"NO!" I managed to scream before my throat shut tight. I closed by eyes tightly as the air rushed past, holding my arms in an 'X' shape in front of my face. Somehow, I had twisted so I was falling headfirst. I cracked open my eyes as the ground grew closer and closer. This was it. I was finally going to die.

Thankfully, Scavenger had other plans. He smoothly caught me three feet from the ground, an amused smirk on his face. I laid in the palm of his hand, to scared to move. What if he did it again? Walking back over to the desk, he unceremoniously dropped me beside the pad. "I'd suggest that next time you don't talk back." He grinned. "Unless, of course, you want to play my little game again." I barely managed to shake my head 'no'. "Good. Now lay down on there." He motioned to the pad. I gave a small, obedient nod and shuffled over to it, clenching my hand tightly. It was still bleeding a bit, but not as much as before. The bloody cross shards were now in my pocket, clinking rhythmically as I walked. I slowly approached the pad and, just as slowly, I sat down on the edge of it, not wanting to lie down. A death-defying glare from Scavenger quickly changed my mind. Swallowing hard, I lowered myself down onto the pad, so I was flat on my back, staring at the ceiling.

Scavenger reached across me, thankfully ignoring my flinch, and picked up the glow stick. He hit a button on the end and a thin sheet of light fell out of it, hitting the desk. Slowly, he positioned it over my head. "Don't move or you'll screw everything up." He ordered as I cringed, the light hitting me square in the eyes. I forced myself to relax, taking a deep breath as I did so. The light moved away from my eyes as Scavenger carefully dragged it across the rest of my body. After a moment, he hit another button and the light flicked off. He walked away from me to where his computer sat and slid the glow stick into a hollow tube. A diagnostic of my body came up on the screen and he stood there for a moment, studying it. I pushed myself off of the pad and onto my feet, resting a hand on my forehead as a dizzy spell hit. Scavenger took no notice; there was nothing I could do. At least, that's what he thought.

I walked unsteadily towards the back of the desk, and for a moment I felt Scavenger's eyes following me. Then he shrugged it off and went back to studying the screen. He probably just thought I wanted to get as far away from him as I could, which believe me, I did, and obviously he didn't have a problem with that. What he obviously didn't realize was that I had a perfect means of escape right in front of my eyes. The wires. Dramatically, I stumbled and caught myself on one of them. They were pretty big, but I could get my arms all the way around one of them, so all was not lost. I slid down to the ground beside them, at the very edge of the desk, and kept my eyes on Scavenger. He was completely ignoring me now. Good.

Very quickly, I climbed on top of one of the wires, wrapped my arms around it and slid down the plastic-coated metal. I easily made it to the ground under the desk before Scavenger noticed. Once he did, however, it was as though the sky had exploded. I heard him curse angrily in a language I had only heard once before (when he had been fighting with Hot Shot) and felt the desk rattle as he yanked at the wires. Hastily, I broke free of the tangled mess and ran out from under the desk, right between his feet. I thought that he would be too busy with the wires to notice me.

Fat chance.

The ground shook as he stomped after me, eye-panels now mere slits. He was pissed this time. Really, really pissed. I was flat-out sprinting, trying desperately to reach the door, which I was hoping had pressure sensors in the floor like the doors in the cave did. Unfortunately, I only made it halfway there. My boot caught on a piece of a metal tile that was sticking up, and I went sprawling. I hit the ground and bounced once. Twice. Three times. I slid for two yards, right into the wall.

"Tell me, human, do you like making stupid mistakes?" Scavenger asked, standing barely a foot away from me. Slowly, I looked up at his incredibly tall form, which was cast in shadow and haloed in light, making him look like a demon from an amazing metal hell. At the moment, I was breathing too hard to answer him. Scavenger sneered and stooped down, grabbing me in his long fingers. I lay still this time, having spent all of my energy running. The robot sneered and turned, taking me back to the desk. He dropped me onto the cotton pad and then returned to looking at the statistics on the computer. I curled up on my side, burying my face in my arms.

This was too much. This was just all too much. Slowly, I began to black out. Just before I did, however, I felt Scavenger run his finger down my spine in a strangely comforting way.

_Maybe he's not so bad..._I thought as I finally lost touch with reality.

10


	5. Oh Joy, It's Cyclonus

Joseph paced his mother's hospital room anxious, rubbing his temples in a futile effort to get rid of his headache. He could hear the doctors and nurses yelling at each other out in the halls. Sighing, he sat down in one of the plushy chairs by the wide window. The night before, his mother had fallen into a danger zone and had been moved to the critical care unit of the hospital. His dad had gone and gotten drunk was usual. When Joseph had returned home, he had found the guest room door barely hanging onto its hinges, daddy-dearest passed out on the floor, and Raven nowhere in sight. Sighing, he placed his forehead on the cold glass window pane and looked out at the moon, which was high in the sky.

"Raven, wherever you are, please be safe."

_

* * *

__Raven, wherever you are, please be safe. _

I clawed my way towards Joseph, tears streaming down my cheeks. I was screaming at him, fighting through the darkness as he left. Something grabbed my leg and began to pull me back. I continued to scream his name as something was jabbed repeatedly into my side.

"Wake up squishy!" Someone shouted, right in my ear.

"AGH!" I screamed and jumped to my feet, whaling around, trying to find who had attacked me. A hand knocked me back to the desk and pinned me down. Large, steel fingers pressed against me, from my knees to the bottom of my mouth. I fought against the hand, kicking my feet wildly and wiggling, trying desperately to get free. There was a click, and a blurry silver circle appeared inches from my face. My eyes focused, and I found myself staring down the barrel of a gun, and, beyond it, Cyclonus's angry face.

"I said be quiet, human!" He hissed. I cringed and whimpered, fearing for my life. _'Where's Scavenger? Megatron said he was supposed to keep me alive!'_

"Cyclonus, you have three nano-clicks to explain what is going on in here!" The gun instantly disappeared.

"Scavenger! Uh, uh, what are you doing here?"

"This just so happens to be my room. Now what are you doing to the girl?"

"Nothing!" Cyclonus panicked, though I didn't know why. Had Scavenger pulled out his own gun? "I swear! I just came in here to check on her!"

"Give me one reason why I should believe you."

"Uh, well, um..."

**BLAM!**

I flinched as the gun went off. Had Scavenger fired on Cyclonus? I looked at the copter-bot, expecting to see him fall to the ground, back or chest smoking, like in the old westerns I had once loved to watch with Joseph and Jake. There was a loud crash, and Cyclonus moved slightly to the side as Scavenger fell forward into the room, blue lightening leaping over his body. He glared up at Cyclonus venomously, his eye-panel twitching.

"An undiluted energon charger? You know those things are illegal, on both sides!" He hissed and Cyclonus gave an insane cackle.

"Oh yes, I do, but when has a law ever stopped me?"

While Scavenger distracted Cyclonus, I struggled to my feet and started to back away towards the computer wires I had used during my previous escape attempt.

"Uh, uh, uh!" Cyclonus said in a taunting voice while watching me, waving his finger back and forth. I froze; he wasn't as dumb as he looked. Slowly-tortuously slowly, as though he was trying to kill me right then and there-he reached out to take me in his hand. Like heck I was gonna stand there and wait while he snagged me!

I launched myself backwards, straight over the edge of the desk. I grabbed onto a wire and slid down towards the ground. Unfortunately, I only got halfway down. Cyclonus hit the desk in a poor attempt to move it, and I fell, right into a large nest of wires. _Oh slag, oh slag, oh slag, oh SLAG! _I cursed, struggling against the thick wires that wrapped themselves around me. Just as one looped around my neck, preparing to strangle me, they all fell loose, leaving me stranded in thin air.

"Gotcha!" Cyclonus cried in triumph, snatching me out of the air as I fell. "Hehe, I always get my prize!"

"Prize?" I asked, anger growing inside of me. "I am no prize!"

"Watch that tone with me, girl!" He hissed, tightening his grip so it stood on the very edge of pain. "Understand?" I nodded weakly. "Good!" He grinned again. "Cone on squishy! You're my pet now!" He turned away from the desk, stepped over Scavenger's twitching form and ran down the hallway.

* * *

"Scavenger, what the slag happened to you?" Megatron asked as the mercenary limped into the room, lightening still crawling across his armor. 

"Cyclonus...stole the...girl!" He growled, leaning on the doorframe.

"Well why didn't you stop him?" Demolisher asked. He and Starscream were leaning against the wall near the back of the room.

"He got a flaming undiluted energon charger." He hung his head. "He shot me before I could get it away from him."

Megatron snarled angrily, slamming his fist down on the arm rest of his throne. "Demolisher, scan the lower levels for any sign of Cyclonus or the girl! Starscream, check the warp gate records, then the area surrounding this base! Scavenger, go get yourself into the CR chamber, then get the Minicons to help you search! I want both of them found!" He roared.

"Uh, sir, shouldn't one of us check his room?" Demolisher asked. Starscream snorted.

"Yes, that is most probably where he took her."

Megatron glared at both of them. "You imbeciles! Cyclonus may be an idiot, but he is smarter than that! Now go find them!"

"Yes sir!" The three saluted and took off to their designated areas.

* * *

"What's the matter squishy? Aren't you having fun?" 

_No, my problem is you keep calling me 'squishy'. My name is RAVEN! Say it with me, Ra-ven!_ I glared coldly up at Cyclonus as this thought ran through my head. He had run down a maze of hallways to his room, of all places. After he had locked the door, he had thrown me into a cage, believe it or not. It was round, just big enough for me to lay down in. The bars were metal and pulsing with some sort of energy. Now I glared through them up at his face, anger welling up inside of me. He was treating me as though I was his pet! Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, a triumphant smile lighting up his face. "I know! You must be hungry!" I watched warily as he snagged something from his desk and dropped it through the open top of the cage. It was a brown lump that landed with a dull 'thud'. It fell over, onto my leg, and I gasped. It was my backpack! "I knew you were hungry!" Cyclonus crowed as I pulled it into my lap. Ignoring him, I opened it up and found that everything was in place. Yanking out a water bottle and an apple that were lying on top of everything else, I started to consider my position. Yes, I was apparently the new pet to a psycho robot from another planet that could transform into a helicopter and destroy me at any second, but hey, at least he fed me. That was a step up from my dad and uncle.

Breaking open the top of the water bottle, I took a nice long drink. The slightly warm water sloshed down my throat into my stomach, reliving me of several days of thirst. Sighing in relief, I took a bite out of the apple. Somehow, it had remained colder than the water, and was just as tasty as though it had been sitting in the fridge. Juice ran down my chin as I devoured it, not caring whether I had an audience or not. I heard a creak of joints as Cyclonus crouched down beside the desk and set his chin on his arms, which were lying on the table, watching me curiously. I took another drink and then finished off the apple, glad to have something to silence my stomach at last. Cyclonus chuckled as I looked down at the apple, licking my lips and chin in satisfaction. I shivered slightly; I was still only in my tank top, and then glanced at Cyclonus, whose face was only a few feet away from the bars of the cage. He was smiling at me again. I turned back to the apple core and took one last bite, making him chuckle. Suddenly, I felt as though I was an animal in a zoo, and Cyclonus was the paying customer that had bought a ticket and come in to watch and throw popcorn at me. For the second time that day, I snapped.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed, hurling the core at him with all of my might. It bounced off his forehead and fell down to the floor somewhere. He stared at me, wide-eyed, stunned. Slowly, however, his eye-panels narrowed and he stood back up, towering over me once again. "Oh slag..." I whispered, pressing myself up against the bars of my cage.

"Why you ungrateful little human! I went through a lot of trouble to get your bag back for you and that is how you thank me?" He screeched.

"Hehe...oops?" I squeaked as he reached down into the cage and snagged me tightly in his hand.

"You will learn to be grateful!" He snarled.

* * *

Scavenger stretched as he finally exited the CR chamber, thankful to be free of the energon overdose. Rubbing the back of his neck, he ran a scan on the bases computer system. The human was still missing, as was Cyclonus, and it had nearly been half a cycle. Scowling, he headed for the Minicon quarters, as Megatron had ordered him to. Just as the passed the long corridor that housed his comrades rooms (he preferred to be alone on the other side of the base), he heard it. 

"SHUT UP!"

"Why you ungrateful little human! I went through a lot of trouble to get you your bag back and that is how you thank me? You will learn to be grateful!"

"Only Cyclonus could say something that makes so much sense." Scavenger muttered sarcastically before he heard the scream. It was long and shrill, riddled with pain and other emotions that even a seasoned mercenary couldn't detect. It was obviously, however, a human scream.

"Cyclonus, you idiot." Scavenger muttered, starting down the hallway. "You made the biggest mistake of your life. You left me alive, and pissed."

"Not so tough now, are you?" Cyclonus laughed in my face. I cringed, my body wracked in pain, tears staining the edges of my eyes.

"I'm sorry." I managed to say in a voice barely above a whisper. The tears I had been holding back for days now splashed down my cheeks as a sign of submission.

"I know you are." He smiled. "I just want to make sure that you remember that you are." Slowly, he began to crush me once more.

The door slammed open and a purple-green blur slammed Cyclonus up against the wall. Scavenger held one arm against Cyclonus's throat, pushing it upwards. His free hand was curled around the hand that was holding me, which was also pinned against the door.

"Let her go." He whispered in a deadly calm voice. "Now."

"No!" Cyclonus growled. "She's mine now!"

Scavenger shoved him harder up against the wall, nearly shoving him straight through the weak metal. I trembled as his grip tightened.

"Let her go." He said again.

"NO!" Cyclonus screeched as he rammed his knee straight into Scavenger's stomach, sending him reeling back. The copter-bot lunged to the left, groping for the gun that was lying on his desk. It was the same one from before, the one that had sent Scavenger to the ground. Before he could grab it, however, a foot slammed into his hand. He glanced down and saw me kicking and hitting his hand in a futile attempt to let me go. I had considered biting him, but after a moment I had also considered that I didn't want to eat pudding and applesauce for the rest of my life. "Don't like what I'm doing, human?" He snarled, before roughly shoving me into the cage. I hit the bottom of it face first and flopped over onto my stomach with a groan of pain. Shaking it off, I pushed myself to my knees and glanced over at Cyclonus. He was reaching down to grab the gun. Before he could touch it, however, and hand grabbed his wrist and in one quick movement had it twisted around behind his back, along with the other.

"Good boy." Scavenger hissed into the copter-bots hearing receptor. "Now lets see if you can sit." With a whirlwind of movement he turned away from the desk and slammed Cyclonus into the ground. I swallowed; my mouth was suddenly very dry. I thanked whatever gods might have been listening that Scavenger hadn't done that to punish me the night before. "Now here's a tricky one." Scavenger hissed, standing up and kicking the groaning Cyclonus onto his back. "Play dead." He reached over and grabbed the gun from the desk. By this time I had made it to my feet and was leaning against the bars of the cage. As the shiny silver surface of the gun passed, I saw my reflection in the barrel. My face was pale and my eyes were rimmed with dark lines from my recent lack of sleep. Faint tear trails fell down my cheeks, curling under my chain and ending as dots on my tank top. The gun slid past me as Scavenger finished lifting it off the desk. Slowly, he turned and pointed it down at Cyclonus, who was still lying on the ground, panting. A smile momentarily graced Scavengers lips, a small twitch that only I caught, and he pulled the trigger.

* * *

Megatron heard Cyclonus's scream all the way in the throne room. He opened his com link to the others with barely a second's hesitation. "Everyone report to the sleeping quarters now!" He ordered. There was a chorus of 'yes, sirs'. Standing up, he stormed down the hallway towards Cyclonus's room. 

"Damn Demolisher." He muttered, seeing the door to Cyclonus's room bent nearly in half. Starscream and Demolisher both ran up, but stopped in their tracks when they saw the door. Carefully all three peeked into the room and were met with an interesting sight. Scavenger was standing in between the desk and Cyclonus, who was lying on his back, covered in a fabric of blue lightening, twitching now and again. On the desk was an energon-cage they often used to hold rebellious Minicons. I was slumped into a sitting position beside the bars, my fingers curled tightly around the slender, glowing steel.

"Scavenger." Megatron snapped, catching the bots attention. "An explanation, if you please."

Scavenger dropped the gun in surprise. It clattered loudly to the ground beside the twitching Cyclonus. "I was heading for the minicon quarters, sir. I heard a scream and went to investigate it and found Cyclonus torturing the human." He motioned towards me, not breaking his stride in the least. "I attacked him but was forced back. Cyclonus threw the human into the cage and made a grab for the gun. I beat him to it and shot him before he could shoot me."

Megatron gave him a half-smile. "Good work Scavenger." He then frowned. "But Cyclonus shouldn't have gotten her in the first place!" Stepping over Cyclonus's mostly prone form, he leered down at me. "He did, however, come up with an excellent idea. He wrapped his fingers around the top rim of the cage and effortlessly pulled it off of the table. My grip around the bars tightened as my stomach was left on the desk below. The Decepticon leader glared at me through the bars. After a moment, he glanced at Scavenger. "You are not longer in charge of the human. She will remain in the throne room." He turned to face all three of them. "Demolisher, you get Cyclonus to a CR chamber immediately. Scavenger, take apart that weapon," He waved at the undiluted energon charger, "Starscream, select a....protective minicon to guard her." He shook my cage lightly to emphasize his words.

"Yes sir!" All three saluted and split up. Megatron smirked and stepped over Cyclonus, passed the two in the doors, and headed down the hall. He made several turns, each of which threw me against the opposite side of the cage I was currently on, and pressed on until he reached a large arch. It led to a huge room that had several dents in the walls. Most of them were shaped like Cyclonus. At the far end of the room was a throne fit for a king. Behind it, the wall had been ripped away, revealing the surface of the moon. Above the throne, high in the sky, was the earth.

"We're on the MOON?" I asked, nearly panicking. Megatron gave me an unamused look.

"You're not a very observant human." He said mockingly as he crossed the room to his throne. He sat down wearily and put the cage on his lap, looking down at me absentmindedly. My arms and chest were aching and every breath I took hurt. We stared at each other in silence for a few moments.

"What...what are you going to do to me?" I finally asked. To my immense surprise, he frowned. I thought that he would of at least given me an evil grin. If I was lucky, and evil laugh.

"You will find out soon enough, human." He sighed. "It's a pity we're going to have to get rid of you. Scavenger looked as though he was getting....attached."

I shifted uneasily. _Get rid of me? What does he mean by that?_

"Ah well." Megatron sighed, and stood up, setting me on the armrest of his throne, so the cage was balanced on the inside edge of it. "I trust that Starscream shall be here soon with your new...friend." He grinned, and for a moment it felt as though the devil himself stood before me, lacking only a tail. "Until tomorrow, human." He said, before walking out of the room. I slumped down against the bars.

"Great, from a mental prison to a physical one." I muttered, pulling my backpack closer to me. I yanked out my blue afghan and wrapped it around my aching body. Settling back against the bars, I prepared to wait out the night.

* * *

Okay! Autobots in the next chapter! I swear it! I'm sorry it took me so long to update; only reason it happened today is because I have a stomach bug. ;;; ugh....anyway, I'll get to work on the next chapter right away! And thank you for all the great reviews! No, this is NOT Raven from Teen Titans, this is my own person. And as to why she can breath on the moon? That gets explained in a later conversation between her and Scavenger. So no worries! 

Please give me a review! They're the only things keeping me going!

Thank you again!

Sally E. Stauffer

AKA: Ashana


	6. The Crash

"You incompetent fool!"

_I'm sorry!_

"I cannot believe you did that!"

_I didn't mean to!_

"Do you ever think before you act?"

_Of course I do!_

"Well it sure doesn't seem like it! Because of you, we lost the Minicon!"

_Minicon..._

I was yanked out of my mental apologizing by the word. Looking around blindly, I realized that I had begun to doze off. The Decepticons had returned from who knows where. Megatron was berating Cyclonus on costing them the Minicon; what else was new? He sounded a lot like my father did when he was yelling at me.

"Get out of my sight."

"Ye-ye-yes sir!" Cyclonus stuttered, smoking at several joints. He stumbled out of the throne room, most likely to go get repaired. Megatron sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh.

"Good help is so hard to find these days." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Frowning, he glanced at the remaining bots. "Well, what are you standing around for? You all know your jobs!"

"Yes sir!" Starscream, Demolisher and Scavenger quickly departed, not wanting to face the tyrant's wrath, leaving me along to deal with him. Or rather, for him to deal with me.

For a few minutes, Megatron sat in silence, his chin propped up on his hand, his elbow sitting on the armrest opposite of the one my cage was resting on. This was fine with me; no petting, no handling, no "I'm going to destroy the world and you are just one measly key in helping me reach that goal'. Yep, life was as good as it was going to get at the moment. Knowing my luck, however, it didn't last.

I had begun to doze off again, wrapped in my mother's afghan, leaning against my backpack, when I was rudely jerked awake by a large set of fingers. They wrapped around me, surprisingly warm despite the metal skin. Obviously, Megatron had had his hand clenched in a fist for a while now. The blanket fell away as I was taken out of my cage and set down on Megatron's palm. The dictator glared down at me for a few moments, processor, well, processing. A finger came down from above and gently began to stroke my head. I did my best not to duck away from it, grinding my teeth to keep from yelling at him. Last time I had down that, Cyclonus had taught me the real meaning of having someone 'in the palm of your hand'.

"The Autobots are growing anxious my dear," Megatron chuckled, "Yes. It's been two days now and they aren't sure if you're dead or alive. Surely they will trade all of their Minicons for you!" He gave a loud, evil laugh. "Yes! And then I shall conquer the universe and rule supreme over all!" I so wanted to yell 'you're crazy, insane, and sick!' but I kept my mouth shut.

A cracked, whiny alarm went off through the halls of the base, startling me. I jumped as a dim red light began to flicker around the room. Starscream and Demolisher were first to run in, followed closely by Cyclonus, then Scavenger.

"Demolisher, pinpoint the Minicons location!" Megatron roared, dropping me back into the cage. I landed without a sound on the hard metal bottom.

"Yes sir!" The red and brown Decepticon rushed over to a dusty computer counsel set into the wall. The screen lit up with a picture of the Earth, several purple crosshairs bouncing across the screen. Typing in a few codes, Demolisher managed to zoom in on the Earth. The _top _of the Earth.

"Ah, not that slaggin place again!" Cyclonus whined as a picture of Antarctica came up on the screen. "Last time we lost that stupid Minicon, and got slagged!"

Megatron chuckled. "Yes, but last time, we did not have a hostage, no." Five sets of optics looked down at me, and I looked back, suddenly quivering horribly.

_Hostage?_

* * *

I think I blacked out again. Only for a moment this time, but still. Warping had that effect on me. Demolisher was in charge of me until the time came for me to 'do my job'. It was easy; I had to scream my head off while Megatron crushed me in his fist. Piece of cake. 

Not.

I was not going to scream for horn head.

By the time I regained consciousness the Decepticons had already split up and were looking around the Minicon. Demolisher was practically clinging to Megatron, holding me tightly in one hand, digging through the snow with the other. I really didn't see why he didn't just set me down on one of the cliff ledges. It would leave one of his hands free and, well, leave me to get frostbite. My hoodie and fishnet were back at the base with my backpack and afghan. The only thing that was of any great loss in this case was the afghan; my mother had started it a little after I was born, and had finished it right before the crash. I sunk down into myself at that thought; the crash.

It had happened nearly three months ago now. My mother and I had been walking down to the park. It was mid-summer and May n' Jay had gone to see a movie, and my father was at work. My mother was a business woman and had just gotten back from a long business trip in Hawaii. She was wearing cut off jean shorts and a white tank top to show off her new tan. I was wearing my normal attire; long-sleeved black shirt and baggy jeans to hide my newest cuts and bruises, courtesy of my father and uncle, who had come to visit while she was gone. May had yet to taste a beer, so at the moment, she was what I considered safe.

We were walking to the park, which was about four long blocks away from our house. My mother kept comparing our skins; it was like comparing black and white. I was pale and had a stick-person figure, while she was tan and beautiful and could have been a super model if she had wanted too. Instead, however, she had chosen to hang out with me on one of the few days she was home. We were nearly to the park; the iron gate was just in sight behind some large trees that lined the street. My mother was drilling me about school and asking if I had any crushes. I simply shook my head; nope, nobody I liked. Not at that school, anyway. We had reached a cross walk and were waiting for the little man to start flashing white on the opposite side of the street. No cars were around, and I had suggested we just crossed the street while it was red. My mother wouldn't have it, however, so I just waited with her. Maybe if we had broken the rules, that car wouldn't have come.

It was hit and run. One minute we were half way across the street, the next a large white truck was bearing down on us. Well, on me. My mom, who was behind me, shoved me forward, out of the way, and began to leap backwards trying to avoid the truck. She was too slow, however, and it hit her full force.

The world took on a slow motion point of view. My mom's body went flying in an arc across the street, a trail of blood following her. People across the street who had witnessed the event were screaming and shouting. Several phones were dialing 9-1-1. I was lying inches away from the car, trembling, unable to get up and rush to my mom's side. My limbs wouldn't move; neither could my mouth. I was trapped in a silent scream.

The car began to back up. A spider web of cracks covered the windshield, hiding the drivers face. I watched it through bleary eyes; I was crying? Yes, crying. Crying for my mom; crying for me. Crying for the pain I was in. Barely, I saw the front wheels of the car turn...towards me.

"Look out!" An engine gunned, and suddenly the truck was coming straight at me; a huge white monster that's face was covered in blood. My mother's blood. The truck was about two feet away when someone grabbed my shoulders and pulled me out of the way. I never did learn who did that; there was too much confusion. The truck barreled past us and shot down the street. The person who had saved me carried me toward the crowd of people. Towards my mom. An ambulance came screeching up, sirens blazing. I was handed off to another person dressed in white and dark blue. I heard someone shouting out instructions. Then I fell into darkness.

"Megatron, sir, I think something's wrong with the human." Demolisher said softly, glancing down at me. The dictator glanced over; slightly peeved by the fact that Demolisher had stopped digging. He then turned his gaze to me. I was hunched over in Demolisher's palm, trembling from both the cold and sudden flood of memories. I heard horn head laugh.

"Don't worry, Demolisher. That's how she's supposed to act." He sneered. "Now get back to looking for that minicon!"

"Yes sir!" Demolisher almost saluted, but luckily he remembered he had me in his hand. Falling back down onto his knees, he began to dig through the snow once more.

"Megatron, sir!" Cyclonus's voice drifted over Megatron's comlink, along with a bunch of static.

"What is it Cyclonus?" Megatron acknowledged.

"The Autobots are here!"

"Where?"

"Sector 5-6-8!"

"We'll be there in a moment. Contact Starscream and Scavenger."

"Yes sir."

The connection broke off. Megatron looked over to Demolisher and gave an impressive grin. "Show time, human." I shuddered at the look; this would not end well. "Come, Demolisher, let us go..._greet_ our friends." Demolisher nodded and stood, brushing snow off of his knees. He followed Megatron like a well-trained pet; the only thing he was lacking was a leash. I watched the behemoths back as we traveled across the snowy landscape, approaching a range of hills close by. The dictator suddenly came to an abrupt halt. "Demolisher, hand me the girl."

The loyal Mech did a small half-bow and held me out to him. "Yes, sir." I was 'gently' plucked out of his hand by the back of my shirt and dangled in front of Megatron's nose.

"Don't forget, human, you _will _scream for me." He hissed between his clenched metal fangs. I felt like nailing him one right in the nose, but the action would have most definitely broken my knuckles, and at the moment I was most concerned about keeping myself in one piece and getting back to my brother. Megatron apparently excepted my silence as a 'yes sir, anything you say sir, shall I kiss your feet, sir?' He dropped me down into his unsoiled hand and curled his fingers around me, so that only my head managed to peek out behind the titanium tree-trunks. "Come, Demolisher, it looks as though the party has already begun." He motioned to a blazing stream of lights behind a craggy outcropping of rock about two miles away. "Transform!"

The next few seconds terrified me more than anything that had happened so far. Megatrons torso turned around, and suddenly his body began to collapse on itself. I shut my eyes as the world twisted this way and that, my face dragging against the frigid air. This roller-coaster experience lasted all of ten seconds. The hand had released me at some point, but I hadn't really noticed. When I dared to open one of my eyes, I saw a large metal counsel covered in bright buttons and switches. On the metal wall in front of me was a viewing screen showing the snowy landscape that I had been watching only half a minute before. I was settled in a large, strangely comfy chair that was way to big for me; my feet barely even touched the floor! I reached up and placed a hand over my

racing heart, willing it to calm down.

"Did you enjoy the ride, human?" Megatrons mocking voice echoed all around me, scaring me out of my wits once more. He chuckled in the standard bad-guy tone as I jumped about a foot off of the chair. "Ah, ah, ah," he taunted, "You're not going anywhere." Thick metal belts shot out of the seat and wrapped around my body. Two crossed over my chest, forcing me back against the seat. My hands grabbed the edge of the armrest as I struggled to get out of the seat. Bad move; two smaller belts clapped around my wrists, holding them fast. I was snapped back against the chair as a belt secured itself around my stomach and two grabbed my legs, holding them fast. The only thing I could move by now was my head. I twisted it around, looking at the various controls set up on the walls that surrounded me, trying to find a way out. There was none. "Demolisher lets go!" Megatron shouted. My surroundings gave a lurch and the landscape on the screen began to scroll by.

_I'm inside Megatron!_ I finally realized, feeling stupid that it had taken me that long to figure it out. I slumped back against the seat, my stomach tying up in knots. I was dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. Need I elaborate?

The rocky crag quickly came into view. Just as we reached it, a red laser bullet hit the very peak, shattering it. Dust and snow went flying everywhere. Megatron muttered 'Transform' once more, and I shut my eyes tightly, ready for the ride. It wasn't as bad this time; most probably because I was prepared for it. The metal bonds released me as the world spun once more. When it had finally stopped, I was back in Megatrons hand, my head poking out in the bitter cold air. The dust and snow was swirling around us, cloaking us from the bots down on the field. Slowly, as the dust settled, I managed to make out several of the Decepticons and Autobots standing down of the field, facing off. Cyclonus was fighting with yellow-head, Scavenger had engaged the orange one with the crane on his shoulder and Starscream was going against a large red and blue mech. A white Mech with a red cross on his helmet was behind the Autobots, digging in the snow, much like Demolisher had been.

"The Minicon is ours, Autoboob!" Cyclonus shouted, slamming his fist into yellow-heads cheek. He stumbled, but the retaliated, charging at Cyclonus and slamming his knee up into the annoying copters stomach. He gagged and doubled over, holding his abdomen tenderly.

"The Minicons don't belong to anyone, Decepticreep!" He yelled. Demolisher appeared behind Megatron, who had yet to be noticed, despite his grand entrance.

"Demolisher, go engage Red Alert." He ordered, pointing to the white Mech that was digging in the snow.

"Yes sir." The loyal soldier rumbled off behind the hills surrounding the fighting plain. He came up on the one near Red Alert and transformed so he was standing on the crest. Pulling out his gun, he began to fire upon the Autobot, hitting his hand and shoulder, forcing him away from his digging spot.

"Now, human, it's show time." Megatron slowly, dramatically raised his fist-with me-out in front of him. His fingers began to close in around my already aching body. "Scream." He demanded. I stayed silent. "I said scream!" His grip tightened noticeably, shoving my elbows into my sides. His shout, however, did not go unnoticed.

"Megatron!" The red and blue bot shouted, throwing Starscream to the side. He pulled his blaster out and aimed at the tyrant.

"Ah, ah, ah, Optimus Prime. I am quite certain that you don't want to do that." Megatron smirked tauntingly.

Optimus's optics narrowed as they changed their focus from Megatrons face to his fist, then to me. They widened, then narrowed in hatred. Towards Megatron or me,

I wasn't sure. He reluctantly lowered his blaster to his side.

"Call back your troops and she might survive." Megatron ordered in a smug tone that obviously meant that the Autobot didn't have a choice.

"Autobots, stand down." He ordered in a monotone voice. His soldiers looked at him.

"Are you nuts, Optimus?" The yellow one shouted. "We've nearly got the Minicon!"

The commander gave him a sharp look. "That was an order!" Yellow-head instantly backed off. He dropped his blaster into the snow and stepped back, towards Optimus. The other three followed the suite unwillingly.

"Demolisher, retrieve the Minicon!" Megatron ordered, pointing to the hole the white bot had been working on. A dim green glow was penetrating the icy layer

he had reached. Demolisher nodded and knelt beside the hole. Slamming his fist down into the ice, he searched through the shattered fragments for the Minicon. The Autobots were all glaring at their captors, flexing their empty fists. Optimus turned and faced Megatron.

"Let her go; she has nothing to do with this!" He shouted. The only answer was a satisfied smirk.

"I don't think so Prime." Megatrons grip tightened just the smallest bit. "She's proven herself to be of some use."

"She's not part of this war!" The Autobot leader countered.

"She is now." Megatron had obviously had enough of Optimus's arguing. I was once more shown off in front of the other Transformers. Slowly, Megatron began to close his fist upon me. I clenched my teeth, reminding myself of my previous promise not to scream. Megatron's fist continued to close, forcing my elbows into my ribs and crushing my knees together. I expected Megatron to stop at once point; surely he didn't want to kill his hostage, one of the few things that could stop Prime in his tracks? Megatron had often ranted about that fact, not realizing I was wide awake listening to him.

The pain in my body suddenly increased ten-fold. I was snapped out of my reminiscing as several of my old cuts and scars tore back open. My teeth grabbed my lower lip, nearly splitting it in two. The pain increased; I could hardly breath. Black began to flash in front of my eyes. _Don't scream! Don't give him that satisfaction! _My mind screamed.

Suddenly, it was gone. The intense pressure just evaporated, leaving only pain. I gasped and opened my eyes; the darkness began to clear up. Twisting my head around, I looked up at Megatron, who was glaring at me.

"So I was mistaken; you do not have a use." He hissed between clenched teeth. _Oh no...this does not look good for me._ I thought silently, barely able to swallow. He looked down at me for a second, then smirked. "Prime," he stared, "catch!" His hand suddenly fell into a bowl-shape, as though he was holding a ball. Unfortunately he had no ball, and decided to use me as a substitute. One second I was sitting in his hand, the next I was flying through the air, high above the Autobots and Decepticons heads, leaving a red streak of blood in my wake. The ground suddenly rushed up to meet me; the fall was going to kill me, no doubt about it.

Apparently someone doubted. The snow had drifted to my landing spot, making it nearly ten feet deep. I hit the white powdery stuff in a ball and rolled several feet. I threw out my arms and legs to stop my slide; luckily, it worked. I laid there for several moments, breathing hard. I could hear the sounds of battle a little ways off; how far had I gone? I took a moment to catch my breath before daring to roll over and look in the direction I had come from. Amazingly, Megatron hadn't thrown me that far. I was only about a quarter of a mile away from the fight. Scavenger and Hot Shot were the two closest to me. I tried to call out and get their attention, but my voice caught in my throat, which was sore from holding back my screams.

Hot Shot charged at Scavenger and attempted to punch him in the stomach. Scavenger easily caught his fist and threw him back. Snarling, Hot Shot jumped back up and pulled out his laser blaster. He shot off several blasts at his enemy. Scavenger dodged all of them, except the last one, which he somehow deflected with his arm—sending it straight towards me. It hit right below the drift I was on. A spider web of cracks crawled out from the hole as the snow beneath me began to shift. This time, I managed to shout.

"SCAVENGER!"

The Decepticon whirled around to face me.

"RAVEN!"

That was the last thing I heard before the ice below split open with a loud crack, dumping the snow and me down into the earth.

* * *

(stares) Wow...it's...done! Wheeeee! So, how many people want to kill me now? You'd better get in line... 

A special thanks to my new friend, Ólafur Hafstein, who helped me get out of my eternal writers block! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I am sorry it took so long to get up! Please review this chapter so I know I still have at least one person out there who wants me to continue it! Also, my new fic, MIA, would like some reviews...it feels neglected (sniff) Poor story, so young...

ANYWAY! Thanks for being patient with me! I hope to update soon. Well, sooner than last time, if that says anything...

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	7. Icy Death? No thank you!

"SCAVENGER!"

The Decepticon managed to hit Hot Shot square in the chest, sending him flying back. He turned to look at Raven, only to find her-and the snow she had been on-gone. What had happened finally registered in his circuits.

"RAVEN!"

He lunged towards the hole, swearing to Primus that if she was alive he would never take up a mercenary job again.

"Not so fast Scavenger!" Hot Shot shouted, aiming his weapon at the Decepticon. He had obviously not heard Raven's shout.

"I don't have time for you, rookie!" Scavenger snarled, the cannon at his midsection charging up. A large blast of red energy engulfed Hot Shot, forcing him back. Turning away from the now-unconscious bot, he ran over to the hole in the ice and looked down into it's depths.

"Decepticons, retreat!" Megatron shouted from atop the hill he and Optimus Prime had been battling upon. Scavengers head twisted around and he watched silently as his 'oh so brave' leader warped back to base. Cyclonus, Starscream and Demolisher followed the suit. Scavenger turned back to the hole. For a second, he thought he saw Ravens face looking up at him, scared and hurt. Cursing silently to himself, he wondered why he had ever let the human get under his armor. Was it because it seemed that nobody else loved her? Was it because she had been hurt when he had gotten stuck with babysitting duty?

Shaking off the 'maybes' he peered down into the hole. There was no way he was going to abandon her. Not now. Without a sound, he straightened up and threw himself down into the hole. He threw out his arms and legs, forcing them into the ice walls that now surrounded him. His sudden decent began to slow as his fingers and toes clutched as every small icy niche that came under them. He could tell some of the paint on his knuckles was beginning to peel because of the sudden increased friction, but paid no mind to it. The only thing racing through his data banks at the moment was Raven, and the fear that she was dead.

Nearly a good mile below the surface his feet hit the powdery snow that had fallen from above. He allowed his jaw to relax (he had been gritting his teeth so hard one of them had chipped) and looked down at the ground around his feet. The snow was pock-marked with holes from the falling ice shards his slide had caused. Right in front of his was a larger hole rimmed with red. Shifting ice-flakes had begun to fill it over, however a spot of black here and there was still visible. Scavenger carefully kneeled down and scooped up the snow around the red and black spot. Sifting it gently in between his hands, he soon uncovered a barely-breathing Raven.

"Primus..." He muttered softly, viewing her bruised and battered body. His anger towards Megatron swelled and he nearly clenched his fists, but remembered at last second that Raven was resting in them. Looking down, he could see that she was shaking like a leaf, obviously freezing cold in the snow. Shifting her to one hand, he quietly said "Transform," and shifted into his bulldozer form. Raven ended up lying across the front seat. Scavenger carefully turned the heat on low. He knew a little bit about organics, thanks to a few previous encounters on other planets. He knew that if they were really cold they had to warm up gradually or they would get sick. The freezing problem taken care of, he tried to think of his next move. He could go to the Autobots, but from what he had seen of Ravens reactions to them, that wasn't such a great job. Besides, the disks he had promised to get for Optimus were still up on moon base. The only other option was to go back to the moon and unintentionally put her in danger of Megatron and Cyclonus. Demolisher and Starscream could care less about her. Sighing angrily, Scavenger decided on an option between the two. He would warp to the city they had first found Raven in and wait on one of the back roads until she woke up. Then it would be her choice. He relayed the coordinates to his warp drive  
and disappeared just as the Autobots began to gather around the hole, which had begun to ice over.

**

* * *

Four Hours Later:**

_"Scavenger, come in."_

Silence.

_"Scavenger, are you there?" _

Silence.

_"Slaggit, Scavenger, I know you're listening! Megatron won't be happy when he knows you aren't responding!"_

The connection cut off with a loud, angry hiss of static.

I cracked my eyes open, only to be met with a smug of color. I blinked several times, clearing my vision. I was laying in some type of vehicle, in the stretched out front seat. A purple and green dashboard was in front of me, along with a large windshield that was showing a picturesque forest scene, completing with a chattering blue bird and a stream. I pushed myself up off of the seat so I could see a little more out of the window. A large purple dozer was set right in front of the window, showing that there was no sloping front that held the engine. I pushed myself the rest of the way up, rubbing my head. I was covered in various scratches and bruises, but I couldn't recall how I had gotten them. Well, most of them.

A loud, thundering sound interrupted my attempted thoughts. I jumped and looked around wildly, trying to pin-point the source. It came again, surrounding me on all sides. I lunged at the door on the passenger's side and threw it open. Unfortunately, bulldozers aren't exactly the shortest kind of vehicles. I spilled out onto the grassy ground, somersaulting onto my back. I heard something snort; had a pig gotten stuck somewhere nearby?

"Raven?" A familiar, sleepy voice asked from behind me. I pushed myself up and twisted my torso around, staring at the bulldozer. It was then that I noticed the familiar coloring, and the large purple Decepticon symbol on the edge. "Transform!" That confirmed my thoughts. The bulldozer fell away into the shape of a kneeling Scavenger. He was looking down at me, his optics rimmed with something I hadn't seen in them before. It was the same type of look Joseph had after dad gave me a rather harsh beating. It was...pity. Worry. Hope. Anger. "How are you feeling?" He probed gently after I didn't say anything.

"A little dizzy and sore." I reported, surprising myself. I glanced back down at my cuts, scratches and bruises, wondering why they didn't hurt as much as they should have. I left the question for a rainy day and turned my face back up to Scavenger. "Where are we?"

"About a mile away from your town. At least, I believe it's your town." Scavenger told me. "I was waiting for you to wake up."

"Why?"

"So you could tell me where to take you."

The answer took me by surprise; he wanted to know where _I_ wanted to go? Since when had anybody cared about that?

"Well..." I hesitated, thinking for a moment. "I want to go home." I nodded. "I want out of this war."

Scavenger nodded. "I thought you might." He reverted to his vehicle mode and swung open the passenger side door. "C'mon; you have to give me directions to your house." I climbed in without complaint and pulled the purple seat belt over my chest. The engine beneath my feet purred and Scavenger turned and rumbled down the hill through a small forest path, heading for my town.

I was silent for the most part, looking out into the forest and across the wide fields that came after it. Soon, houses began to come into view, and the forest popped back up. We drove into the neighborhood that neighbored mine. I gave a nervous sigh that did not go unnoticed by Scavenger.

"Are you frightened to return home after such a long time away?" He asked, stopping at a stop sign.

"A little. Next right." I pointed to an adjoining street a block away.

"Will your parents be angry?" He asked, turning and driving into the more rundown part of the neighborhood.

"No. Turn into the cul-de-sac." I nodded to the circular dead end and my crumbling white house that was built on the right side of the street. "That's my house."

"That rundown little place?" Scavenger asked. "Tell me this is a joke."

I smacked his dashboard out of reflex. "Hey, it does its job, okay?" I snapped tartly as he pulled to a stop in front of the house. I unbuckled myself and attempted to push open the door. It stayed locked.

"Raven..." Scavenger hesitated.

"Yes?"

"If you, if you ever need help, you know where to find me."

I nodded, swallowing a lump that had appeared in my throat. Scavenger's door swung open, allowing me to climb out. Slowly, I headed up the cracked sidewalk towards and up the crumbling front porch. I turned and waved to Scavenger, then pushed open the front door. As soon as I had turned, shut it and locked it, somebody grabbed my shoulders and whirled me around.

* * *

Who is behind Raven? Will she find Scavenger again? What will happen to her mother? Good gosh! I've got to go figure those questions out!

* * *

Muwahahaha! Another chapter up! I know this one is short, and I'm sorry! And I know there's another cliffy, so there! (sticks out her tongue) BIG IMPORTANT NOTE: Recently I've become obsessed with my two Final Fantasy games (Yeah, I know, "Only two?" I'm trying to find more! I swear it!) FF X and FFX-2. I've come up with a small plot line and I want to get my thoughts down on paper, so I'm gonna take a little break from working on this story. Only a week or two, I promise! 

Thank you for all of the great reviews! Keep the coming please!

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	8. Wasted Years

**_Yeah, yeah, I know I said I was going on hiatus! Give me a break! Later that night I came up with what to type next and then Keyboarding was so boring and...Yeah. I doubt you guys are complaining. My keyboarding teacher, on the other hand..._**

**_The first 3 groups of lyrics used in this chapter are from the song _**Wasted Years **_by the band _**Cold. **_The others are from the song _**Black Sunday**_, also by _**Cold.

**_Enjoy!  
_**

* * *

"Raven!" Joseph pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly. "I've been so worried about you? Where have you been? Jay and I searched the whole forest! May, too, when she was sober enough!" 

I pushed away from Joseph slightly, trying to catch my breath. He looked me up and down. "By the heavens…what happened to you?" I looked up at him, at a loss for words; what was I supposed to tell him? Huge, evil robotic aliens abducted me and dropped me in an ice hole and nearly killed me on several occasions, until one rescued me and brought me home?

"I got caught in a landslide out there. That's probably why you couldn't find me." I lied, feeling my stomach drop; I hated lying to Joseph.

"You poor thing," Joseph hugged me again. "Dad and the others are out for the night. Why don't you go take a nice, warm bath and clean up? I'll get some bandages from the emergency kit." I nodded and headed past him for the stairs, dreaming of a nice, hot bath already. I heard Joseph rush away into the basement to gather up the old bandages that had been collecting dust over the past few years.

Up the stairs, past my sisters room, into the bathroom. I shut the door and thought of locking it, but decided not to. Joseph would freak out if he couldn't reach me. I turned the tap and stuck my hand under the water. It ran icy cold at first, but nothing compared to the snow of the North Pole. After a minute it warmed up, and then became hot. I flipped the small lever that shut off the drain and turned away, allowing the bathtub to fill. I turned to the mirror and finally got to look at my face.

I was pale; paler than normal, at least. My eyes were sunken into my face, and my hair was stringy and dirty. Several cuts and bruises covered my cheeks and surrounded my eyes. Slowly, unwillingly, I carefully pulled my tank top over my head and let it drop to the floor.

My chest and stomach were worse. I had several long scratches going up my stomach to my chest, and several more on my arms. There were very large, ugly bruises on both my sides, from where Cyclonus had held me, no doubt. My shoulder also had a small bruise from landing on it one to many times. I pulled off my jeans and inspected my legs. They weren't too bad, seeing how they had been covered by a strong material the whole time; nothing like my upper body.

By this time the bath had finished filling. I turned off the tap and shed my underwear, then stepped in. The water was bitingly hot, just how I wanted it. Carefully, I lowered myself down into the water, wincing as the hot fluid touched my cuts and scraps. I pressed on, however, and finally laid back fully in the tub. It was an old house, and an even older bathroom, so the tub was nice and long, big enough for me to stretch out in. My back lay against the sloping back edge, keeping my head above the water, but dousing the rest of me.

"Raven?" Joseph asked, rapping on the door. I kept my eyes shut and sighed.

"Yes?" I replied with a sigh, sinking down farther into the water and letting my black hair float around my face.

"How are you doing?" He asked.

"Fine. Did you find the bandages?" _I might as well get the focus of the chat off of me._

"Yeah, and an old nightgown of Mays. Can I come in and put them on the counter?"

"Hold on a sec." I sat up straighter and pulled the flowery shower curtain closed. "Okay, come in."

The door, its doorknob replaced, cracked open. I could see Josephs shadow moving around on the other side of the curtain. He set down a second shadow on the counter and caught something that rolled off.

"Thank you." I said softly as he turned to go, sensing that I wanted to be alone for a little while longer.

"No problem, sis. I'll be in the guest room across from here if you need me." He answered before shutting the door. I sunk back down into the warm water and relaxed, mind swirling. After a few moments of trying to sort out my thoughts, however, I realized it was hopeless and focused on clearing my mind.

I waited until the water, which was now tinted with pink and as dirty as mud, turned cold to get out of the bathtub. Joseph had set a fluffy white towel on top of the toilet. I picked it up and wedged my hand in between the folds; it was still a little warm. He had gotten it straight from the dryer. I quickly unfolded it all the way and wrapped it around myself; it was one of those extra large types of towel that could easily wrap around me twice. I snuggled down into it and then looked at the stuff sitting on the counter. There were several rolls of dusty bandages and a folded white cloth. I dried myself, then wrapped the towel around my hair and sat on the edge of the empty bathtub with the bandages. Carefully, and with some difficulty, I wrapped some around my chest, arms, and one around my head to keep my bangs out of my eyes. As soon as that was taken care of, I stood up and grabbed the white cloth. It unfolded into a long white flannel nightgown of Mays. It was very plain; no lace or buttons or anything. It was perfect. I pulled it on over my head and let it drop down to my ankles. Looking back into the mirror, I released my hair and grabbed my sister's brush. After quickly pulled it through my wet, black strands, I deemed myself worthy to go out and see my brother, ready for a tidal wave of questions. I opened the door and flipped off the light, then started across the hall to the half-open door leading into the guest room. I knocked softly, and got a snore in reply. Pushing the door the rest of the way open, I looked over to the bed. Joseph was lying back on a bunch of pillows, snoring to the heavens above.

Quiet as a mouse wearing clown shoes, I crept over, tripping over anything that got in my path on the way. I crawled onto the bed and stretched out beside him. He opened one eye and grinned at me.

"Have a nice bath." I gave a small nod. "Good." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and squeezed it. "I'm glad that your back." He settled back into the pillows. "Now why don't we both get some rest?" I nodded as he scooted over and allowed me to curl up against his chest. He pulled a blanket over both of us. I gave a content sigh and was soon drifting off into the sweet, sweet realm of dreams.

_**

* * *

There's a game life plays  
Makes you think you're everything **_

_**They ever said you were**_

_**Like to take some time  
Clear away everything I planned**_

* * *

"C'mon Raven!" Joseph shouted impatiently. I finished tying up my hair and rushed down the stairs. I was wearing an old pair of jeans and a red t-shirt that had darker sleeves than the main body did. 

"I'm coming!" I shouted, bursting through the front door. My older brother was already in the truck, hand ready to beep the horn. My dad sat next to him, while Jay and May sat behind them. "Do you think there's room in there for me?"

Joseph looked back, a grin on his face. "Well, I'm not sure. Why don't you climb in to the bed and ride back there?"

"Really?" He nodded. "Yes! Thank you Joseph!" I ran around to the back wheel and climbed up into the back of the black truck. I sat on the pile of tarps next to the window leading into the cab and waited for the familiar jolt that signaled the truck starting. The engine purred and jumped to life and began to roll back out of the driveway. Soon we were on our way through the neighborhood, the wind yanking around at my head. It had been two weeks since Scavenger had returned me home. Most of my cuts were healed up, leaving behind only faint scars, and the bruises on my sides and cheeks had faded quite a bit. Joseph had finally deemed me healthy enough to visit the hospital with him and the others. Dad and May were amazingly sober, if for no other reason then they were visiting the hospital and didn't want to be drunk in public. Jay, who was a very light drinker because alcohol upset his stomach, hadn't had a drink in a week.

After nearly ten minutes of driving around the busy streets of Science City, we came to the general hospital. I jumped out of the truck as soon as Joseph stopped to let another truck back out and pass us. He shouted at me out of the window but I ignored him, running towards the entrance. I pushed my way into the hospital and rushed past the desk to the elevator. My mom was on the third floor; special cases. The elevator seemed slower than a slug as it trudged up towards the third floor, gears whirring. As soon as the door opened, I ducked under a doctor's arm, who had been trying to get on, and rushed down the hall to room 4C.

A nurse was standing in front of the door, arms crossed, daring anyone foolish enough to look her in the eye. I skidded to a stop in front of her.

"Excuse me; I need to get in there." I said politely, pointing to the door behind her. She shook her head.

"No one is allowed but doctors and immediate family." She said tiredly, as though this was a routine.

"I'm her daughter!"

The nurse looked down at me over her small glasses. "You are?"

"Yes! I'm her youngest daughter, Raven!"

The nurse picked a clipboard up off of a nearby table and looked down at it. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"What grade?"

"Ninth."

"Hmm...Fine, you can go in, but be quiet." She said after a slight hesitation. Opening the door, she pointed. I nodded and crept in, pitying the rest of my family that would have to deal with the old crone.

The room was dark, and the shades on the windows were drawn. I carefully walked over to the woman lying on the medical bed. She was very pale and had long, silky red hair that was cropped short so it wouldn't interfere with the wires hooked up to her. Her eyes were closed, but I knew they were a bright green. Below the sheet that was pulled up underneath her arms, I could still see her super-star figure. I could also see plenty of wires and tubes hooked up to her. A gentle beeping came from a nearby machine that had a green spiking line going across it.

I sat down in the seat closest to her side and reached out for her hand. I gently clasped my own around hers and watched her face. For a second, her lips curled up into a smile and her hand gave me a small squeeze, but that was the only reaction. I slumped back in my seat as the rest of my family filed in and took their spots. I chanced a glance over at my dad, who really did look worried for once. With a sigh, I looked back to my mom. We would stay here until the hospital threatened to send up the dogs. That's how it always went.

_**

* * *

Was it life I betrayed**_  
**_For the shape that I'm in?  
It's not hard to fail  
It's not easy to win  
Did I drink too much?  
Could I disappear?_**  
_**And there's nothing that's left  
But wasted years**_

_

* * *

**Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep  
...Beep**_  
**_...Beep_**

**_Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep_**

I jumped as the loud noise broke through my dream barriers. Joseph, the only one that had stayed with me, also jumped and shook his head to clear it. He looked to our mom and the little green screen. The line had gone flat. His eyes widened and he shot towards the door. Throwing it open, he bellowed out into the late night hall. "NURSE!"

There was an immediate commotion. Two nurses and a doctor rushed into the room. One of them, a younger, nicer nurse than the one I had previously encountered, moved me away from the bed, forcing me to let go of my mom's hand. I didn't want to let go of her, but the nurse was very persistent. She nearly picked me up and dragged me away! The doctor and other nurse were bent over my mom. They gave her a shot and then pulled out this small machine that they must have brought inside with them. The doctor set two pads down firmly on my mom's chest. A small shot of electricity ran through them and into her. For a second, the monitor jumped, and then became flat once more.

"Mom?" I asked quietly. Joseph moved around the room and took the nurses place, wrapping his arm around my shoulder.

"Don't worry; she'll be alright." He comforted, though I could tell he was worried too. The doctor and nurse continued to try and zap the life back into my mom. After the fifth time, however, he paused, and sighed, shaking his head. Joseph shook his head slightly, looking down. I looked from him to the doctors.

"No..." I said quietly, realizing what had just happened in the flurry of activity. My mom had just died. I pushed away from Joseph and broke in between the two nurses, grabbing my moms hand tightly. She couldn't leave! She just couldn't. I stared at her face. "Mom, don't go!" I cried, feeling the tears rolling down my cheeks. The doctor and nurses nodded to each other and quietly left the room, leaving me with Joseph. "Mom! Mom! Don't leave! I need you!" I shouted, believing that she could hear me. Joseph came up behind me and gently placed his hands on my shoulders. I barely felt the touch, all of my focus on mom. "Mom, I love you! Please don't go!" I cried, feeling salty tears roll into my mouth as I sobbed.

"Raven..." Joseph said softly. "She's gone." He choked on his words, but kept his tears back, trying to stay strong. I ignored him and gave my moms hand a squeeze. I don't know how it happened, but her hand squeezed back. I blinked and looked at her face, then at the screen. There was nothing; she was still gone. A hand gently pried hers out of mine. I fell back against Joseph, who turned me around and wrapped his arms around me. I laid my head on his shoulder and softly let myself cry, soaking his shirt. So many things had already happened; why did this have to be one of them?

_**

* * *

If I could change my life  
Be a simple kind of man  
Try to do the best I can  
If I could see the signs  
I'd derail every path I could  
Now I'm about to die  
Won't you clear away from me?  
Give me strength to fly away**_

* * *

I stared blankly into the flames of the fireplace, ignoring my dads and brothers bickering. Joseph was going back to college tomorrow. Mom's funeral was done with, and daddy dearest was making up for all the beers he had missed. May was out with friends, as was my uncle, and Jay had already gone to bed, so they weren't there to witness what happened next. Behind me, something crashed. I winced; it had sounded semi-valuable. 

"Look, while you live in my house, you live under my rules!" My father roared.

"Well then it's a good thing I'm leaving tomorrow!"

"You had no right to throw da beer!"

"Are you nuts? You're going to kill Raven, and then yourselves!"

"So? The little bitch deserves to die, just like her mother did!" He crowed. "That van was the best car I ever rented."

My brother and I gasped as one. I spun around on my knees and peered over the top of the couch. My dad was swaying drunkenly and grinning. "That's right! I killed that worthless bitch! She was having an affair with her secretary!" He laughed crazily.

"Mom didn't have a secretary!" Joseph said, staring at the man that he had once looked up to and gone fishing with every Friday night.

**_

* * *

I can't breath at all_**  
_**It hurts to think  
That time could heal my wounds**_  
**_Feeling I've been betrayed_**

* * *

"Says you!" Dad wheeled drunkenly and gave a loud, donkey sounding laugh. I felt a sudden rage boil up inside of me. 

"HOW COULD YOU?" I screamed, leaping over the back of the couch. "Don't you know how precious life is? Once its gone it doesn't come back!"

My dad looked surprised that I was finally taking a stand against him. "You stay out of this, bitch." He said, wheeling again.

"No! You killed mom! You nearly killed me! If that guy hadn't saved me, you would have run me over with that horrible rental truck!" I screamed, slamming my foot down against the ground. Joseph nodded, moving so he was beside me.

"She's right!" He agreed, his eyes darting towards the phone in the kitchen. I followed them; this had gone to far. It was time for the police to interfere. "You're nothing but a stupid, drunk idiot!"

"What did you say?" My dad roared.

"That you're a stupid, drunk idiot that looks like a monkeys a—" His words were cut off as my father threw a punch at his face, leaving the way to the phone wide open for me. I sprinted past my dad and across the linoleum tiles to the old, tan phone. Pulling it off its receiver, I quickly dialed the number I should have a long time ago.

_**9-1-1**_

A female voice began to answer on the other side when something hard hit the back of my head. I crumpled, dropping the phone, which ended up hanging upside down on its curly cord. My father loomed over me, holding the baseball bat that I had previously been acquainted to. Joseph was lying across the room, blood seeping from his forehead. His eyes met mine, and he said one word.

"Scream."

I did so. I have never screamed for anyone in my life, but this time I thought it would be a good idea to listen to my older brother. All of the screams I had ever kept back; on the moon, at the artic, in my room after being beaten; all of them burst forth in one wild, insane howl. My father dropped the bat in surprise. I heard the woman on the phone shouting to someone else, and very faintly in the distance, as though it was coming through a window on the other side of the line, the sound of sirens.

"Run!" My brother now ordered as my dad staggered.

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine! I'll keep dad here! Run and hide in the woods! I'll get you once this is all over!" I nodded and got to my feet. A momentary wave of dizziness hit me, but I quickly shook it off. My dad was still rubbing his ears, which must have been ringing, and didn't try to stop me. I sprinted across the kitchen and slammed open the old screen door, knocking away one of its hinges. Looking sadly back at Joseph, I ran into the trees and hid.

_**

* * *

Black Sunday still burns**_  
**_You in my thoughts  
I can't sleep at all  
Now you're gone away  
I can't fake this anymore  
Guess I could blame it all  
On God's game  
Or explain what my life's for_**

**_Caught in a winters rain  
I can't remember a word you said  
Take away my fear please hold on to me  
I'm falling  
Falling_**

**_I will trade it all  
For another day  
Just to feel you and your warmth   
But even pictures fade  
Black Sunday still burns you in my thoughts  
I can't see at all  
Did you fly away  
Did the stars shine bright for you  
Guess I could blame it all  
On God's game  
It was fate that carried you_**

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Wow...I typed all of this up in one day! It got to 7 pages! Alright! Well, please review! I will love you forever if you do!**

**Wheeee! I feel like being nice, so here's a preview for the next chapter:**

I stared at the police cars that came up to my house. Several police officers ran up onto the porch. I heard the front door splinter and shuddered. My dad shouted and several gruff voices barked. A couple of police man also slipped into the backyard. I swallowed nervously and moved farther back. Unfortunately, the silver bracelet I had been wearing caught the light.

"Over there!"

"There's someone in the woods!"

"Get him!"

I gasped, turned, and ran for all I was worth, hoping to loose the men that I had no desire to talk to.

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Woohoo! Now remember:**

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	9. The Old Cemetery

;;; Hehe, I changed my idea, so the last preview is actually inaccurate! But the next one is true! I swear it! Happy readings!

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I went to the one place I was sure Joseph would be able to contact me; the graveyard. I crept up the gentle sloping hill to the back section, where people all the way from the 1800's were buried. This part of the graveyard was darker and falling apart. The ground was covered with weeds in some spots and totally bare in others. The black metal fence was falling apart and the black paint was peeling. I paused at the fence just long enough to wiggle away one of the rails. I slipped through and replaced the rail, then looked around the cemetery. This was actually the lower part. A little ways away a second hill began to rise up towards the heavens; the newer part of the cemetery. Just barely along the edge I could see the white lilies that had been placed on my mom's grave only a few days ago. The petals had begun to fade away and the stems had turned brown. I sighed; why did the universe hate me? 

Shrugging off my self-pity, I walked over to an old, crumbling stone bench that was held together only by thick strands of moss. I sat down on the soft carpet of green and looked at the stones around me. Joseph had made a valid point; dad had been getting closer and closer to killing me lately when he hit me. And when he had been in the car and turned the wheels towards me…

I shuddered, realizing how close I had been to the killer of my mother the entire time. He deserved whatever punishment the judge sentenced him, even if it was death. I would most certainly agree if it was death.

Frowning, I rubbed my head. No. No I wouldn't; nobody deserved the death sentence. Nobody. Life was too precious. I sighed once more and looked down at my hands. When had my life gotten so complicated?

Nearby, a shot of lightning split the sky, which had been growing dark ever since I had left. A loud rumbling of thunder followed, as though a great lion that lived in the sky had been disturbed out of his sleep. The newer part of the cemetery turned dark as the clouds gathered over top of it and began to drift towards the older part. I watched it calmly; lightning storms were calm and soothing to me, as long as I didn't get hit, at least. I watched as another finger of light stroked the statue that was set up at the top of the hill. It was a marble angel standing on top of a huge book. There were often time rumors about there being a passageway beneath the angel that led to a secret silver cavern. I had always thought it was nonsense. Now that I had time to kill, however, I began to wonder if it would be worth investigating.

"Oh don't be stupid," I chided myself, "Nothing is under that statue!" A second thing of lightening hit the angel, and again my interest was piqued. "Just a little look couldn't hurt, though." I stood and brushed myself off before I could change my mind. Carefully, I headed for the other end of the old cemetery, carefully moving around the crumbling tombstones and plaques. I reached the other side quickly and somehow managed to force open the stubborn waist-high black gate. Wincing as it squeaked loudly in protest, I stepped onto the gentle slope of the new cemetery.

A violet laser lit the ground in front of me, incinerating every blade of grass that had once stood there. I jumped back with a shout of surprise and slammed into the black gate, forcing it back into its place. My eyes followed the path of the laser straight up to the robot form of Cyclonus, who was hovering several yards above the ground, thanks to the blades on his back.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite squishy!" He crowed in delight. "Where've you been hiding?"

I didn't answer; if I had opened my mouth, I was afraid I'd say something I would come to regret. "Stunned to see me squishy?" He asked mockingly as another torch of lightning lit the air.

"Stunned to the point of being sick." I muttered.

"What was that?" Cyclonus asked, landing a few feet away. I pressed myself against the gate, which normally opened both ways. Now, however, it was wedged in between the two posts that held it up. "Aw, trying to leave so soon squishy?" He taunted with a cruel laugh. "Hehehehehe, Megatron will be glad to see you!"

_Yeah, glad to see me squished flat against the sole of his foot,_ I thought acidly, kicking the gate stubbornly with my heel.

"Aw, do you not want to see Megatron again? But he misses you soooo much!" Cyclonus howled, though it didn't sound as though he really cared all that much about Megatron. "He doesn't want to see me come back empty-handed, and you are much more valuable then some rebelling Minicon! You'd never rebel, not after Megatron gave you those great lessons! Hehe, he'll reward me good for finding you!" He punched his fist up into the air…and got struck by lightning.

I would have laughed, had the situation not been so serious. Cyclonus collapsed, twitching the same way he had when Scavenger had shot him with the undiluted energon gun, or whatever it had been. He fell to the side, leaving the way to the angel statue clear. I sprinted past him, not wanting to be around when his over-loaded circuits repaired themselves. I charged up the hill, though I'm not really sure why I did that. I should have jumped the fence and run back into the woods. At least there I could've hid.

I slipped and slid up the grass slope as rain began to pour down from the heavens above; a perfect setting for a horror movie. I stumbled slightly on a tombstone, but kept my balance. Forcing myself up the hill, I soon reached the statue. The angel was looking sadly down at the book, with cracks running down her face like tears. She was one of the oldest statues in the cemetery, having been moved from the old section to the new.

"SQUISHY!" Cyclonus roared from behind as several shots were fired into the cloudy sky. I jumped and spun around, pressing my heels up against the edge of the book. Cyclonus was storming up the hill, eyes livid, smoking curling up from his shoulders. I swallowed hard; if ever there was a time I needed Scavenger or Joseph, it was now. "You did that! I don't know how, but you did!" He ranted, his feet leaving huge holes in the wet hillside. I could just imagine what the landscaping committee would have to do to cover those up. I stepped up onto the book, watched Cyclonus in fright. He was twice as insane as he had been a month ago. A violet light gathered at the end of his arm-mounted cannon and he raised it, pointing at me. Fortunately, when he was angry, he didn't have very good aim.

The shot ripped through the grass, singing it as it flew past up the hill. It collided with the base of the statue, which was the books cover. There was a huge flash of light as the stone beneath my feet shook. Dust swirled up into the air, echoing Cyclonus's insane laugh. The ground dropped out from under me, and I found myself falling once more into nothingness.

At lease, that's what I thought until five feet later, when I landed on a smooth, curved piece of stone. I covered my head as smaller bits of stone rained down on my head. I coughed as the dust swirled and settled around me. Shaking my head and dislodging some pebbles at the same time, I looked up at the hole I had just fallen through. Cyclonus was leering at me.

"Have fun in your tomb." He cackled as he grabbed the angel statue and crushed it in his fist, sending much larger stones raining down on top of me. I scrambled forward, away from the hole, as the angels large wings crashed into the hole, blocking out all the light. I heard Cyclonus's insane laugh fade away as he left.

"Great, now I've gotta share my tomb with some other dead guy." I muttered angrily, slamming my fist into the nearby wall. I winced and shook my hand, then began to feel around. I was in what felt like a tube cut in half. The stone was nice and smooth; maybe water had run this way once-upon a time?

I scooted forward carefully, wondering how long this half-tube went. Pretty soon, it began to slope a little. Me being me, I bent over to see if there was anything at the bottom I could identify in the gray darkness. Slowly, the stone began to slide away beneath me. Five seconds later I was going down the stone slide on my back at what felt like a breakneck speed.

The slide slipped by, turning right, then left, then right again, tossing me around like a marble on a track. I would have screamed (here, nobody would have heard me) but the wind pressed against my jaw and kept my mouth shut. Soon, the slide straightened out, and its slope began to decrease. Before I slowed down to much, however, I ran out of slide. I was flung forward into the air for a few seconds before falling down onto a rough stone floor covered in dust.

I gasped, trying to get a reasonable amount air back into my lungs. As soon as my head stopped spinning, I pushed myself up and sat back on my heels. I was in a large chamber with a ceiling so high I could barely see it. A few light panels were set into the wall across the room, but they were flickering and dim. There was enough light for me to see that half of the room was metal, which faded away into the rocks to form a strange type of cave. There was a door in between the two long light panels. It was open, and led into a rock tunnel. Standing in the door was a large white, red and gold robot, who's optics were set squarely on me.

I fell backwards off of my heels and onto the ground. I stared back into the robots orangish-gold optics, heart racing. Standing beside his foot was a minicon, which looked more curious than anything else. We stayed like that for a moment, neither of us moving. The dim lights flickered, and then went out entirely.

I dove for the nearest rock formation, thankful for the sudden distraction. The rocks jutted high above my head, forming a protective wall between me and the Transformer. I heard him mutter something beneath his breath, and then the lights flickered back on. I crouched down, trembling, my back pressed up against the rocks. Being trapped in a pit with a Transformer blocking the exit, a transformer that could be on either side of their bloody war, was not my idea of a good time.

I saw a pebble by my foot tremble as the transformer took a step into the room. I swallowed hard, my last encounter with Cyclonus still fresh in my mind. The ground shook once more as he took a second cautious step, and then it hit me. He was moving _away_ from the door! I carefully crab-crawled to the side of the rocks that was near the wall. The Mech was moving towards the other rock outcropping, which had actually been closer than the one I was behind now. His Minicon had disappeared; probably to go tell the others that they had an intruder to deal with. I waited until he had taken three more steps and was right beside the outcropping to make a break for it. I sprinted across the room towards the door. I heard the Mech shout, but didn't understand what he had said. The ground gave a sudden, violent tremble, and I slammed straight into a large, white hand. Being made of flesh and not metal, I bounced onto my back and found myself looking up at the large transformers face and, more importantly, the two upside-down red Autobot symbol on his shoulders.

"You're a fast runner." He commented as I rolled over onto my stomach and pushed myself up onto my knees. Right then I was so relieved that I had found one of the good guys I could of started crying right then and there. Instead, however, I simply watched him with wide eyes. One of his optics widened slightly, giving you the impression that he was attempting to raise an eyebrow. His minicon popped up beside him, still looking at me curiously. "I'm Jetfire," the Autobot said after a moment of silence, "and this is Commettor, my partner." He nodded to the minicon, who beeped in acknowledgement. "So, do you have a name?"

It took a moment for me to realize he had asked me a question. "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, it's Raven." I said, tripping over my words. Jetfire laughed.

"Still a little shocked? You don't have to worry; I won't hurt you." He said gently.

"Of course you won't; you're an Autobot!" The look I received from that statement told me quite plainly that I had said something stupid again.

"How do you know that?" He asked after another moment's silence.

"You, um, have the Autobot symbol on your shoulders." I pointed out the two red faces. "At least, I hope they're Autobot symbols..." I cringed, remembering Cyclonus once more.

"I meant, how do you know about the Autobots?" He asked again. Deep in his voice, I could hear a note of suspicion.

"I, uh, had a run-in with 'em a while ago..." I explained, hoping he wouldn't ask for details.

"Really?" Jetfire asked, leaning back and sitting down all the way in front of me. He moved his hands away, so the exit was in plain sight. For some reason, however, I didn't even think of running. "How exactly did you run into them?"

"Well I was hiking and it started to rain, so I went into a cave to keep from getting wet and ran into that yellow Autobot." I explained hastily.

"Hot Shot." Jetfire supplied.

"Uh, yeah, Hot Shot," I corrected. "Anyway, he kinda spooked me so I ran off, straight into a Decepticons leg..." I thought back to that day two months ago; that had been when I first met Scavenger.

"You ran into a Decepticon?" Jetfire prodded, snapping me back into reality.

"Uh, yeah, I did. Hot Shot saved me and later explained that he was an Autobot, a good guy, and all that other stuff about your war." I lied. "I didn't want any part in it so I left. I guess now I've been sucked back in..."

"How did you end up down here? You sorta appeared out of nowhere." Jetfire asked, changing the subject.

"I was up in the graveyard and Cyclonus found me." I said sourly. "I dropped into a passageway below a statue and he collapsed it on top of me. Turns out it led down here."

"Does Cyclonus know about it?" Jetfire asked, suddenly looking very serious. I liked him better when he smiled.

"No. He thought he had trapped me in a tomb." I said hastily, not enjoying the look he was giving me.

Jetfire nodded. "Not exactly the brightest in the bunch." He chuckled, and the smile returned. "Well, seeing how you know all about us, do you want to go to the main part of the base and dry off?"

I looked down at myself; the rain had waterlogged my clothes completely. Bits of dirt and dust had stuck to the wet fabric, making me look like a walking mud monster. "The kids have some extra clothes here incase they get dirty. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if you borrowed some." I flashed him a thankful smile.

"That would be wonderful." I said with a longing sigh. He chuckled.

"Alright, well lets head on over and—" He was cut off as the familiar sound of comlink static broke the caves organic silence. "Uh, hold on a second." Jetfire said, sounding as though he was blushing. He stood up and turned around, raising his arm up to his mouth. While he was busy with that, I stood and dusted myself off.

"Good luck, sir. Oh, uh, Optimus?"

"What is it, Jetfire?"

My head perked up as Jetfire's voice dropped dramatically in volume. I had to strain my ears to hear him.

"A human found her way into the base. She claims to have met Hot Shot before."

"Really? Well, I wasn't aware that Hot Shot had a previous encounter with humans, unless...?"

"Sir?" Jetfire asked.

"Did she give you her name?"

"Yeah, it's Raven. Why?"

"She's telling the truth. Go ahead and bring her into the base. We'll be there soon. Optimus out."

He remembered me. I don't know how or why, but he did. Jetfire stood there for a moment more, scratching his head, while I tried to decide what to do. If I stayed and let him 'escort' me to the base, then I might get to see Scavenger again. If I did go, however, that would mean having to answer a lot of questions, including why I was in the cemetery at night. If I ran, there was a very good chance I would get lost, and Jetfire would presumably know the layout better than me. That and his Minicon was standing right by the door.

"Joy to the world." I muttered sourly to myself as Jetfire turned back around. He clapped his hands and looked down at me.

"Ready to go?" He asked, an enthusiastic tone in his voice now that he knew I had been telling the truth. How comforting. He paused when he noted my less-than-happy look. "Something wrong?"

I shook my head and forced a smile. "No, I'm fine. Shall we go?" I motioned to the doorway. He nodded; obviously a newbie to Earth.

"Alright!" He stooped down and laid his hand in front of me. I jumped back, just staring at his palm. "Hop on! This'll be faster than walking."

"I'd rather not." I said quietly, remembering how much I hated to be held by the Decepticons.

Jetfire withdrew his hand. "Ah...well, then we'd better start walking!" He flashed me a diluted smile as he straightened back up to his original height and began to walk towards the door. I followed, noting that he looked as though he was trying to take smaller steps so I could keep up. I lengthened my stride slightly and he sped up a bit more. I broke into a slow jog, noting a slight spark in Jetfire's optics. I turned my head upwards and gave him a half grin, before breaking into a flat-out sprint. "Hey! Wait up!"

I heard Jetfire's heavy footsteps follow me at a similar pace as both of us ran for the exit, leaving Commettor behind. For a moment, I felt as though all of my troubles were gone, left behind in the wind that streamed past my face. These thoughts left as soon as Jetfire shouted for me to stop. I came back down to reality and realized that I was five feet away from a wall and running at top speed.

"AGH!" I stumbled and fell in an attempt to stop myself, landing parallel to the wall, which I slid into. Jetfire and Commettor ran up, looking worried.

"Are you alright?" The Autobot asked as I attempted to massage the waves of dizziness out of my head.

"Yeah, great." I muttered sourly.

"You're a fast runner." He complimented as Commettor helped me to my feet.

"I like to run now and again." I shrugged, dusting myself off.

"You and Hot Shot would make good friends. He likes to go fast too." Comlink static once more interrupted our conversation.

"Jetfire, I need to see you in the control room."

"Back already, Optimus?"

"Yes. You need to get over here right away."

"What about the girl, Raven?"

"Have Commettor take her to the kid's room. She'll be safe there."

I stiffened. _She'll be safe there? _That meant something bad was going to happen.

"Right. Jetfire out." Jetfire flicked off his comlink and looked down at us. "Commettor, take Raven to the kid's quarters, now. Whatever's going on is serious." I gave a timid nod and Jetfire flashed me a smile. "Don't worry, kid. Everything's gonna turn out okay. Then we can get you home."

Home. Right. I doubted home was very homey anymore. Commettor took my arm in his iron grip (no pun intended) and pulled me down the hall. Jetfire ran in the other direction at top speed and soon disappeared behind a bend. I watched after him; something was really wrong. Commettor tugged a little on my arm, motioning for me to follow him. I did so, chewing on my bottom lip. For the past few days I had been acting more like a machine than a person. I did most of the things people told me too (I had to make few exceptions), and never really thought about it anymore. I was stressed.

These thoughts came at a bad time. Commettor stopped me as we reached a four-way intersection in the hall. Several different footsteps reached my ears. I looked down the hall to our left; someone was coming. I looked to the right; the same story. Meanwhile, in front of us, a third bot was coming. I took a step back, but Commettor kept a firm grip on my arm. The lights lining the top of the halls flickered, and then went out.

"A power failure!" Commettor beeped, still unaware that I could understand him. He released my arm and I was suddenly standing alone in the darkness of an alien base. My heart beat quickened, but began to slow as Commettor's armor lit up a little. "There we go." He looked to me, and the suddenly looked past me, optics wide. I whirled around before I could see him relax. Three large bots, with amazing stillness, had appeared and were looking down at us. They were barely even silhouettes. Except for their optics. I could see their optics glowing in the darkness. I stumbled backwards, eyes wide, meeting theirs. Commettor's arm snapped out and grabbed mine tightly, taking me by complete surprise. I screamed and twisted around to face him. Darkness was suddenly overtaking me, and I sunk to the floor, unaware of the panicked voices of the watchers.

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Suspense keeps readers coming back for more! 

Scavenger: It also makes them head to the sheds for the torches and pitch forks...

Shut up Scavey...

Scavenger: I told you not to call me that!

TOO BAD!

Jetfire: While those two proceed to kill themselves, here's the next preview:

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Scavenger gently picked me up and carried me over to his desk. "I've got something for you." He said, setting her down beside the keyboard. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hands and gave a small sniff.**_

_**"Yeah?"**_

_**"Yes." Scavenger pulled open the top drawer and pulled out something I never thought I would see again.**_

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Dun dun dun! What is it? Why is it so cherished? What will happen to Raven next? What of her brother and father? 

**Review and you will find out!**

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	10. Secrets Are Slipping

She sat quietly, eyes glazed with fear and sorrow. Her knees were drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped tightly around them. Her chin rested on her knees, adding to the look of hopelessness her face carried. The only thing that held Scavenger back from running into the med bay and holding her in his arms was Optimus Prime's strong grip on his shoulder. The Autobot leader felt the mercenary tense beneath his hand and granted the Mech a slight reassuring squeeze.

"I know you want to see her, but you heard what Red Alert said. One more surprise and she could go into shock." He said softly, his optics trained on the girl. Scavenger only gave a half-nod, his entire focus on Raven. Optimus gave his shoulder armor one more squeeze before turning and leaving to attend to the damage Cyclonus and the other Decepticons had done to the entrance of the base.

As soon as Optimus had disappeared around the corner a quarter of a mile down the hall, Scavenger slammed his fist into the wall beside the one way mirror. Ravens head shot up and she looked around frantically, fear breaking through the other emotions in her eyes. Scavenger quietly cursed Primus above as he withdrew his hand and massaged his knuckles. Red Alert, who was in the med bay with Raven, shot an angry look at the one-way mirror. Scavenger met his gaze, although the medic had no way of knowing it. Raven turned her head to the medic and timidly asked a question. He shook his head with a sigh and went back to his work bench, upon which sat several different vials of liquid. Scavenger scowled; Red Alert had insisted that they used a harmless, non-addicting drug to keep the girl from going into shock until she came to terms with where she was and understood that none of them were going to hurt her. Scavenger had insisted the he could calm her down, but Optimus wasn't one to take chances when a life was involved.

Raven had gone back to sitting with her knees to her chest and gazing blankly at the wall. When she had asked what Red Alert was making, he had explained that it was something to stop the pain her bruises were constantly causing her. Scavenger scoffed; it would stop the pain, along with her rational thoughts. Optimus trusted the plan, however, and Scavenger trusted him.

Red Alert finished the concoction he had been working on for the past half-hour. Long Arm, his minicon partner, poured part of it into a small cup and handed it to Red Alert. The medic walked over to Raven and crouched down, holding the cup out between his thumb and forefinger. She gave him a weak smile and took it, causing Scavenger to chuckle. It was still rather big and she had to hold it with both hands to keep from spilling it all over herself. He watched intently as she brought the cup up to her lips and took a small sip. Red Alert watched as she took a second draft, a small smile crossing her lips. Apparently she was enjoying the drink, especially since she thought it was supposed to dull the pain in her aching body.

This thought only arose more questions in his mind; who had hurt her? Cyclonus had contributed to a small part of the injury, but not all of it. The bruises were new, but not that new, and the cut on her head had already sealed over by the time she fell down into the base. Someone else had hurt her within the last few weeks, and he wanted to know who! Hadn't she already suffered enough at the hand of Megatron and his cronies?

A shout interrupted his train of thought. The mercenary looked back to the window and at once regretted looking away. Red Alerts face was dripping with the light blue potion he had made. Raven was on her feet, shouting at him, waving the empty cup around. Long Arm was looking bewildered on the workbench; he had obviously contributed to this sudden explosion. Curious as to what they were saying, Scavenger hit the intercom button by the window.

"—drug me?"

"Please, Miss Raven, calm down!"

"No! You were trying to drug me!"

"We were trying to calm you down!"

"Well it obviously worked!"

"Will you please listen to me?"

"Why should I?"

"We were only trying to help! Your stress level is through the roof; you needed rest?

"So you fed me a knock-out drug? Why not just send me back to my dad and let him knock me unconscious?"

Scavenger felt his spark constrict as she said that. Out of the corner of his optic he saw Red Alert's expression loosen considerably in shock. The cup in Ravens hand fell to the recharge berth and shattered. The girl's eyes were wide and frightened even more so than when Scavenger had hit the wall. Her hands flew to her mouth, which was opened wide.

She was an abused child. It all made sense; her bruises and cuts that came from nowhere. Her fear of people that were larger and stronger than her. Her constant need to shelter herself and hide away from the world. It all made a terrible sense.

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I had told them. Not even thinking, I had revealed one of the largest secrets of my life: I was an abused child. I slid down to my knees among the shattered remains of the bottle, my hands still over my mouth. I looked to the mirror; it was one way. Long Arm had been talking to Red Alert about it. They still didn't know that I could understand the Minicons. He had said that Prime, their leader, and Scavenger were on the other side watching.

Scavenger; I could feel him. Standing there watching. I could only imagine what he was thinking now. He probably no longer wanted anything to do with me. After all, who would want to hang around with an abused brat, as May called me.

Red Alert followed my gaze to the mirror, then looked back down at me. The potion was still dripping off his face, making him look like a wanna-be smurf. He stood very carefully and wiped his face with the back of his hand. "I'll be right back." He reported in a calm, even voice, though I could hear confusion and anger beneath it. He turned and left the med bay slowly, leaving me alone with Long Arm, who was still staring at me. I watched as the door shut tightly, sealing me in the room. I looked back to the mirror and finally noticed the little intercom beside it. Strangely, the light beside the speaker was green.

"Scavenger, where did Optimus go?" Red Alerts voice came over the speaker.

"He left to take care of stuff. He is the leader, after all."

"So he didn't just hear what she said?" The medic now sounded exasperated.

"No." I could imagine Scavenger with his arms crossed over his chest, leaning against the mirror, looking challengingly at Red Alert.

"I'm going to go speak with him. Keep an eye on her until we get back." The medic left without waiting for an answer. I heard Scavenger mutter and move around. I looked down at my hands, which had dropped into my lap, and blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill down my face. So he didn't care about me anymore.

"It's not illegal to cry."

My head jerked up and I gave a small gasp of shock. Scavenger was standing in the door of the med bay, gazing down at me with something close to anger in his eyes. I winced and looked back down at my lap; was he angry with me because I was so weak?

"Long Arm, please go get the blanket off of my desk in my room. Our guest is looking a little cold." Scavenger gave the minicon a pointed look.

"Uh, sure thing, Scavenger." Long Arm jumped off of the workbench and quickly left he room. I heard the Mech give a weary sigh and felt his heavy metal footsteps shake the table beneath me as he came closer. Half a second later he stood right in front of the recharge berth. I could feel his gold optics examining me and my heart twisted into a knot; was I no longer worthy of being his friend?

"You're scared." Scavenger said plainly, catching me off guard.

"Wha…what?" I asked, lifting my head and looking him in the face. Big mistake; his optics caught my eyes and held them there. As much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't bring myself to break my gaze. "You're scared." He said again, and I saw the anger leave. It wasn't me he was mad at.

A sudden darkness spanned my vision and a bone-weary exhaustion tugged at my limbs. I muttered Scavengers name weakly as I felt myself fall forward. Instead of hitting the hard table of the recharge berth, I landed in a soft pair of familiar hands. Through the darkness clouding my view, I heard shouting. And then…nothing.

_

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"So, any guys you like?"_

_"Mom!" I playfully swatted her on the arm. "Cut it out, will ya?" She laughed and I felt all frostiness towards her melt away; her laugh had that effect on people._

_"Honey, the walking light is red?" We had come to a crosswalk two blocks from the park. I sighed in exasperation and rolled my eyes._

_"Oh, c'mon mom! Nobodies coming!" I pointed down the third adjacent street that the light was installed for._

_"If you start disobeying the laws now, what's going to happen when you're older and driving? 'C'mon mom! There aren't any cars coming!' Next thing ya know, Bing, Bang, Boom! You're in the hospital in a coma because a Mac truck side blinded you!" _

_"Chill mom! We live in a safe little town where the most dangerous thing that happens is a skunk getting hit on the highway!" I shook my head and stepped onto the road._

_"Raven!" My mom grabbed my shoulder. I pointed to the little walking man._

_"It's white now; that means we can go." I explained in a mocking tone. My mom shook her head and gently whacked me on the head._

_"I swear, your mouth is as big as Josephs." She sighed and stepped down onto the street beside me._

_Bing!_

_Bang!_

_Boom!_

_I could see him this time. The windshield had stayed in tact, and I could see him, smiling triumphantly behind the steering wheel. My stomach flip flopped as he turned to look at me over the blood splattered hood._

_The engine roared and the car lurched forward. I lurched back, trying to get out of the way. Strong arms grabbed me and pulled me from the street, out of the way of the van, which promptly sped off past the coming ambulances, which screeched to a stop a few feet away. Panting, I looked up at the face of my rescuer. Even upside down, I could identify it as Scavenger, only...human sized._

_"You saved me again!" I exclaimed, feeling gratitude warm up my face. Turning, I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. I felt his own arms awkwardly wrap around my back, holding me close. "Thank you." _

_"No problem, sweetie." _

_I froze. "Scavenger, why do you sound like Cyclonus?" I asked, slowly raising my head. Instead of meeting Scavengers kind, caring optics, I found myself peering into Cyclonus's demented, lustful ones. I opened my mouth to scream, but found that I couldn't make a sound. The insane Decepticon smirked._

_"What's wrong squishy? Don't like being my pet?" He gave one of his insane laughs that sent chills down my spine. "Aw, is the little pet cold?" Out of nowhere, my mothers blue afghan wrapped around my shoulders. Only the corners were stained red..._

_Cyclonus began to give me a hug, only the longer it went, the tighter it became. I gagged as his grip became too tight and cut off my air. I struggled to look into his face, but instead of seeing Cyclonus, I was once more staring down Megatron. Then, slowly, as I watched, his face began to shift. His armor fell away, revealing flesh. His optics melted into eyes and his nose dissolved into skin. A swab of black hair covered his head. I was now staring at my father._

"Raven! Raven, quiet! You're going to wake the whole base up!" Something was lying on my lips, quieting my scream. My eyes snapped open and I found myself staring straight up at the tip of a large, purple finger, and beyond that, Scavenger's worried face. He gently removed his finger when he saw that I had woken up and was in control again. "Are you alright?"

* * *

I gave a small half-nod. "Yeah...I...I'm fine." I stuttered, biting back the tears that were threatening to spill down my face. Scavenger gave a small 'phew' and sat back in his chair, which hadn't been there before. I gave a quick glance around the room; it looked like we were back in his room at the moon base, minus the rust and dust. "Where are we?"

"My room. Optimus thought it would be better if you woke up with someone you knew this time." Scavenger explained. "Now, care to explain what all that screaming was about?"

"Will I be in trouble if I say no?" I asked cautiously.

"No, but I won't stop asking until you tell me." Scavenger gave me a childish grin. I sighed, shoulders slumping.

"It was just a nightmare."

"About what?"

"Something."

"Ah. Such a vivid description." He rolled his optics heavenwards, if that's possible. "So what is this something that you speak of?"

"It's," I fell silent for a moment, "none of your business."

Scavenger's gaze hardened ever so slightly. "I'm afraid it is. You're in our base, and in my room. I am responsible for you and your safety right now."

"And that's my fault?" I stood up and glared at him. All of the feelings I had felt for the past few weeks; hurt, sorrow, depression; all of them channeled themselves into anger. "I never asked for you to look out for me! You were _assigned_ to by Megatron! Newsflash! You're not a Decepticon anymore! So unless the mighty Prime leader assigned you to be my babysitter once more, you have no right to stick your big nose into my business!"

Scavenger stared down at me in shock as I panted, trying to regain my breath. After a moment, what I had said finally registered in my mind. My head snapped up and I looked at him with regret. "I'm sorry Scavenger! I'm so sorry! I don't know where that came from!" I said in between breaths, feeling tears well up in my eyes once more; what had made me snap at him?

Scavenger shook his head. "And I thought Pyrite had bad mood swings." He sighed. A sudden look of sadness passed over his face for only a moment, but it was quickly replaced by his normal stern look. "What was your dream about?" It was an order this time. I looked down at my lap; how could I refuse an order?

"I was walking with my mom. We were crossing the street. A big white van," I stopped for a moment then swallowed hard, "It came at us when we were crossing, and it hit," I stopped once more. Scavenger was watching me patiently, already knowing what I was going to say. "It hit my mom." The dam behind my eyes began to crack.

"Raven…" Scavenger said slowly, but I didn't heed him.

"And my dad was behind the wheel, and he tried to hit me, but someone pulled me out of the way." I continued, talking rapidly now, wanting him to know everything. "It was you, who saved me, and we hugged, and then you laughed, but it wasn't you, it was Cyclonus, and he was mocking me, and then it was Megatron, and he was hurting me, and then it was my dad that was holding me and he wouldn't let me go and my moms blanket was red and-"

"Take a breath," Scavenger ordered, running all of this information through his processor. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath that got stuck halfway down my throat. It wiggled around until it came out as a sob. The dams cracked, and tears began to stream unchecked down my face. I dropped my head into my hands and tried to stop the salty droplets from falling down my cheeks. "Raven…" He said again.

Metal fingers engulfed me on both sides as the mercenary gently picked me up off of the table. He set me in the palm of his other hand and gently stroked my back with his forefinger, like the way he had when I had first fallen asleep up at the moon base.

"It's okay; you're safe now. None of them can hurt you anymore." He said softly. I half listened, still trying to stifle my sobs. "Like I said, it's not illegal to cry." He continued to rub my back; for someone who seemed so tough, he was very good at comforting people.

We stayed like that for a few more minutes; me sobbing, him doing his best to comfort me. Finally, he broke the heavy silence that had settled over us. "I've got something for you." He said, setting her down beside the keyboard. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hands and gave a small sniff.

"Yeah?"

"Yes." Scavenger pulled open the top drawer and pulled out something I never thought I would see again; my mothers cross. The four pieces had been welded back together. To cover the welding marks, there was a red satin ribbon tied around the center, creating a red square around the intersection. It was set on a silver chain that glinted with something unearthly when held up in the light; energon to strengthen it, I guessed.

"Scavenger…" I said quietly as he handed me the cross. I wrapped my hand around the long bottom section and held it up against my heart. "Thank you." He merely shrugged, but I could see just a hint of a blush on his face.

"I'm sorry I broke it in the first place." He said as I looped the chain around my head.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you for breaking it."

"I'm sorry I tried to punish you for yelling at me."

"I'm sorry I didn't listen to you and tried to run away."

"I'm sorry I let Cyclonus get a hold of you."

"I'm sorry that I have to listen to this." Hot Shot commented from the door leading into the room. I jumped and Scavenger growled.

"What do you want?" He asked, turning. I gave the bot a small wave from behind Scavenger's back. The yellow bot smiled and nodded in return, then looked to Scavenger.

"Optimus wants Miss—" He looked at me.

"Raven, I supplied.

"Miss Raven to meet the rest of the team. That is, if she's ready." He had taken notice of the tear streaks running down my face. I quickly scrubbed them away as Scavenger turned to look at me.

"Do you want to go meet everybody else?" He asked, his tone clearly saying that he didn't think it was a good idea. I pondered for a second; I needed to ask Scavenger something, and it might as well be now while we were mostly alone.

"I…I think I'd like to wait a while." I said, nodding, "Just a little longer." Scavenger and Hot Shot both nodded.

"Alright, I'll go tell Optimus." The younger bot disappeared. Scavenger turned back to me and sat down in his desk chair, watching me over his folded fingers.

"You want to ask me something?" He said, and I blinked; how had he known that?

"Uh, yeah, well…" I shook my head, still shocked.

"I won't get angry." He promised.

"I know." I took a deep breath. "Um, earlier, after I yelled at you," we both frowned, "you mentioned someone. I think you said her name was Pyrite." He gave a small nod. "Uh, who is she?"

Scavenger sat back with a heavy sigh, and for a moment I thought I had crossed over a boundary we had set up earlier.

"Pyrite…" He stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, "was my life mate."

* * *

Oh gosh! Scavenger was married! The horror! Hehe! Cliffy once more! Yes, I know I'm evil! This story's almost over; only two or three more chapters! Depending on how many reviews I get, I might actually pull of a sequel. But that's only if I get reviews! (Evil laugh)

Okay! Preview for the next chapter!

* * *

"_**Joseph!" I shouted, running through the trees and straight into his arms, winding him slightly. Back where I had left Scavenger I heard a chuckle.**_

_**"Hey Raven, where've ya been?" He asked, stroking my hair; so he hadn't been that worried about me; probably because I knew this forest like the back of my hand.**_

_**"Graveyard," I answered, snuggling my head against his chest. He was about to say something, probably along the lines of 'The Graveyard? How could you have spent the past two days there?' Unfortunately, he was cut off by a loud, scarily familiar roar of helicopter blades.**_

_**"Aw, if it isn't my favorite squishy!" Cyclonus shouted as he transformed and landed a few yards away from us. I heard Joseph gasp as I just let forth a sigh. **_

_**"Not again." I moaned.  
**_

* * *

There ya guys go! Until my next chapter! 


	11. The End?

"Life mate?" I asked, tilting my head to the side curiously. "What's a life mate?" If we had been in an anime cartoon, Scavenger would have fallen over into a cloud of dust with random limbs twitching and swirly-swirls around his head.

"It's, um, oh what's that term you humans use?" He thought hard for as second. "Wife! She was my wife."

I felt my stomach plunge; so he was already married? "Your...wife?" He nodded, looking sad. "Do you miss her?"

"Terribly." He sighed deeply and put his elbows on the table before resting his head on his hands.

"What was she like?" I prodded, knowing that this was going to come back and bite me on the butt eventually.

"Curious, aren't you?" He asked with a raise of the optic. I nodded, earning another sigh. "She was...perfect, in my optics, at least. She was smart, funny, pretty, and a wonderful soldier. Sharp as a knife and loyal as a K-9 42." I wanted to ask what a K-9 42 was, but he was on a roll and I didn't want to interrupt him. "She always obeyed orders, no matter how stupid or dangerous. Optimus got her good a few times on our annual prank day, before he grew more mature. She wasn't happy about being painted bright neon pink for a week." The image of his lover with splotches of bright pink paint on her brought a small smile to Scavengers face. "Optimus helped me propose; he ordered her to go to the storage room where I was working at the time and then ordered me to hurry up and get it over with because he knew she would say yes."

"Did she?" I leaned forward eagerly; this was just like a movie!

"No." His voice was heavy. I fell silent, looking down at my hands.

"Oh..."

"She was going too," he said softly, "I looked at her diary. She was going to say yes. Her unit was called out that night and she didn't come back..."

"Decepticons?" I asked. He nodded.

"She was checking out a mining cave and they blew it up. They were never able to find her beneath all of the rubble."

"Then how do you know she's dead?" I asked.

"What?"

"She could have escaped! There might have been a back way out of the tunnel and she could have gone through there."

"No. She's gone." Scavenger said firmly.

"But how do you—"

"After one thousand years of searching, I know!" He snapped. I cringed.

"Oh..." He sighed and rubbed his temples.

"I'm sorry, Raven, I—"

"Don't be." I stood up and brushed myself off. "C'mon, the others are waiting. Lets go say hi."

* * *

I looked down at my moms cross, sliding the satin ribbon around. Above me, Scavenger sighed in content. He had suggested we get out of the base for a little while after Sideswipe had nearly crushed me with a hug. Hot Shot had tried to get him to cut it out, but the younger bot wouldn't listen. Optimus had wanted to talk to me, but Scavenger managed to duck out of that conversation, only to run into Jetfire, who covered our hasty exit. We found Blurr and Smokescreen in the shooting range and ran into Red Alert outside of the med bay. All of them were really nice to me, most probably because of my 'history'. I wanted to get out of there as much as Scavenger did. 

About half a mile from the base there was a lake with some really beautiful flowers surrounding it. We had stopped there to relax and possibly chat. The relaxing part had happened, but so far neither of us had said a word, even though I knew Scavenger wanted to say something. I was sitting on a rock right by the water, my bare feet skimming the surface of the pond, moving the lily pads around and annoying the frogs trying to rest on them. Scavenger was lying on his back a few feet away, optics shut down, snoozing. A very brave rabbit had come up and, surprisingly, fell asleep on his elbow. I found it very cute.

"Raven!"

My head snapped up and I looked around hastily; that was Joseph's voice! Scavenger lazily activated one optic as I stood.

"Friend of yours?" He asked, glancing at the rabbit on his elbow.

"Yeah, my brother, actually." I jumped off of the rock and slipped my tennis shoes back on, then shoved my socks in my pockets. "I'm gonna go find him; you stay here. Like Optimus said, we don't need another human caught up in the war."

"Yes ma'am." Scavenger gave a small mock salute before putting his head back down. The rabbit, which has perked up when Scavenger moved, followed his example. I shook my head at Scavenger then headed towards the voice. About ten yards into the forest, I spotted him.

"Joseph!" I shouted, running through the trees and straight into his arms, winding him slightly. Back where I had left Scavenger I heard a chuckle.

"Hey Raven, where've ya been?" He asked, stroking my hair; so he hadn't been that worried about me; probably because I knew this forest like the back of my hand.

"Graveyard," I answered, snuggling my head against his chest. He was about to say something, probably along the lines of 'The Graveyard? How could you have spent the past two days there?' Unfortunately, a loud, scarily familiar roar of helicopter blades cut him off.

"Aw, if it isn't my favorite squishy!" Cyclonus shouted as he transformed and landed a few yards away from us. I heard Joseph gasp as I just let forth a sigh.

"Not again." I moaned.

"Again?" Joseph was momentarily distracted.

"Don't ask." I shook my head and wiggled out of his arms. Turning, I glared up at Cyclonus. "What do you want, blender butt?"

"What did you just call me, squishy?" He growled angrily.

"Nothing." I gave him a sweet innocent smile. Behind me, Joseph was standing in silent awe and terror.

"Nothin', eh?" This only proceeded to make Cyclonus even angrier.

"Yep! Just like you!" I gave him a large grin.

"WHAT? How DARE you, you little insignificant worm!" He shouted, opening his mouth to its full extent as he said this. He was cut off from saying anymore, however, when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around, straight into Scavengers fist. With a weak moan, he fell back and hit the ground in front of Joseph and me with a loud crash. My older brother was as white as a ghost, and by the way Scavenger looked at me, I bet I was too. The only reason I had spoken so bravely was because I had seen Scavenger sneaking behind Cyclonus.

"Are you two alright?" He asked, putting a foot on Cyclonus's chest to keep him down. I nodded, and then turned to Joseph.

"I am. Not to sure about him, though." I nudged my brother. "Are you alright?"

"Uh…yeah…just…peachy…" He was still white and had begun to sweat slightly. I bit back a smile; I had never seen him so nervous before.

"Scavenger, this is my brother, Joseph. Joseph, this is Scavenger, my friend." I introduced, hoping to ease the tension.

"Uh, eh, um, hi?" He stuttered, giving a small wave. The mercenary nodded and smiled, showing off his sharp canine teeth. I swear I thought my brother was about to faint. Shaking my head, I wrapped my arms around my brother and gave him a hug.

"Stop being so stiff," I ordered, "Scavengers my friend. He took care of me when Megatron was holding me captive."

"Captive? Megatron? What?" Joseph grabbed my shoulders. "When did this happen?" He ordered, shaking me lightly.

"Well, uh, you know the landslide?" I asked, laughing nervously.

"There wasn't a landslide, was there?"

"No." He grabbed my arm and dragged me over to a rock that was nearby. He sat me down on it roughly.

"Tell me everything. Now." He ordered.

"And I thought Megatron was bad…" Scavenger sighed.

Joseph sat there in a daze, running through everything that I had just told him. Scavenger was asleep on the other side of the clearing, snoring loudly. The bunny had returned and had worked up the courage to climb onto his stomach and sleep. I was sitting on the ground now with my back against the rock. Joseph sat in front of me.

"So…this Megatron guy hurt you just to get a little robot?" He asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. I nodded.

"Yeah, he did. That's where I got all the bruises and junk. Well, most of them, anyway. Cyclonus contributed a few."

Joseph's eyes narrowed in anger. "That…that…"

"Look, it doesn't matter, okay?" I set my hand on his knee. "That's all over now, 'kay?" I gave him a weak smile.

"Yeah, I guess." He shook his head. "It's still unbelievable."

"That's what I thought when I saw Hot Shot in the cave." I laughed. "I'm glad it happened, though."

"Glad? Why? They hurt you!"

"So? I made new friends, and it kept my mind off of mom and dad for a little while. By the way, what's up with dad?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer.

Joseph's look hardened. "He's in jail on charges of murder and child abuse. His trial is in two days." His looked softened as he set his hand on mine. "They want you to testify against him."

"Me?" I asked, though I knew it was going to happen. He nodded.

"You were the one that was abused most of the time. Jay and May got hit a little, but the main focus was you. If you testify, we can lock him up for good and get on with our lives."

"Yeah," I nodded absently, "get on with our lives…" How was I supposed to get on with my life? I had lived with my father my whole life, and now he was going to jail. My mother was dead, so she couldn't take care of me, unless I decided to commit suicide.

"I've got to get back to college soon; I'm about to fail half of my classes." He sighed. "If I had an apartment I would invite you to come live with me." His face brightened. "But I have called your favorite older sister…"

"You mean I get to go live with Mandy?" I asked. My oldest sister, who I loved dearly, was out of college and worked as a science teacher at a school in Virginia. She was married and had a pair of ten year old twins, Emily and Amy, and a toddler named Julia.

Joseph nodded. "Yes. She and her husband are coming down for the trial, along with Jack. Mandy is planning on taking you back with her then."

I threw myself into Joseph's arms. "Oh Joseph! Thank you!" I said, hugging him tightly. Finally, I would be able to get out of this dirt town and leave all of these bad memories behind!

But…not all of them were bad…

I turned and looked at Scavenger; I couldn't just leave him! He was one of the few true friends I had! At the moment he was sitting up, smiling at me.

"Congratulations." He said with a nod and a half smile. "I'm glad you have somewhere safe to stay now.

"Thanks." I gave him my own little smile. Joseph also nodded to him; he had gained a new respect for Scavenger after learning that he had save me.

Joseph stood, then helped me up. "C'mon; let's get home so you can get everything sorted out." He suggested. I nodded.

"Yeah, I guess…" I glanced over at Scavenger. Joseph quickly got the hint.

"I'll go ahead and make sure the police aren't swarming our house again. I'll see you there." He quickly left the glade, leaving me and Scavenger alone. A long awkward silence stretched between us.

"Raven…"

"I don't want to go."

"What?" Scavenger asked, peering down at me in confusion.

"I said I don't want to go. I don't want to leave you." I felt hot tears well up in my eyes; how many times was I going to cry in front of Scavenger?

"You need to." He said softly. "You need to go where you're safe."

"But I don't want to leave you!" I said again, feeling a tear drip down my face.

"I don't want you to go either, but you have to." He said softly, reaching down and tipping my face up to look at him, "You need to go with your sister now, and forget about this war that you aren't even supposed to be a part of."

"I don't mind be part of this war, though! I want to help you fight! I want to make sure you're safe!" I argued. He nodded.

"I know; I want the same thing. But we can't always have what we want."

"Well why not?" I stomped my foot angrily.

"You're throwing a temper tantrum." Scavenger warned, causing me to sigh wearily.

"I'm sorry." I sniffed. "I'm sorry."

"You only need to say it once." He wiped away the tear that was falling down my cheek. "And if you don't let yourself start crying right now I'm going to arrest you." He gave me a small smile. I giggled, but it quickly turned into a sob. Scavenger gently wrapped his hand around me and held me up to his chest, carefully running his fingers along my back. "It's okay to cry; keeping your feelings pent up inside will make you sick." He advised as I tried to stifle my tears. This wasn't how I wanted him to remember me!

After a few minutes I was finally able to stop my crying and get a hold of myself. I wiped my eyes fiercely with the back of my hand. "Sorry." I said around a sniff.

"I already said you didn't have to say it." Scavenger said softly, looking down at me. I gave him a weak smile.

"Yeah, I know."

"Are you going to be okay?" He asked.

"Yeah, I think I will be. Mandy really loves me; she has never had a beer in her life, neither has her husband. I'll be okay with them. They need help with baby Julia anyways." I shrugged. He nodded.

"Your brother probably needs your help. Do you want me to give you a ride home?" The words held a foreboding sadness.

"Yeah, I'd like that." I gave him a forced smile. He nodded and set me down, then transformed. _That's Scavenger for you; all business, no nonsense. _I climbed into his front seat and settled back against the surprisingly comfy seat back.

"Ready?"

"Yeah," I nodded.

* * *

"Guilty!" 

I had never heard such a wonderful word. Joseph and Mandy, who were on either side of me, gave my hands a soft squeeze each. Baby Julia, who was in Mandy's other arm, gurgled her approval. Emily and Amy, Mandy's ten year old twins, were talking quietly around their father, who was sitting in between them. May and Jay sat on Joseph's other side, watching the proceedings with stony faces. May was being sent to rehab in a week, while Jay was being sent off to college on a full scholarship. Beside them sat my oldest brother, Jack, his black spiky hair drawing some odd looks.

"You are guilty on charges of assault, murder, attempted murder, and child abuse." The judge said, frowning deeply. "Your sentence is life in jail."

A cheer went up from the people who were watching. They were packed with friends of the family and coworkers who had finally learned the truth. The story of my moms murder had spread far and wide and attracted everyone who had ever known us, from old neighbors to doctors and dentists. It was truly amazing.

Mandy wrapped her arm around my shoulder and passed Julia off to her husband, Mark, so she could hug me. Joseph was next, then May and Jay. May and I had gone and gotten some ice cream while we talked about stuff; I had forgiven her. The beer had a greater influence on her than dad, and she was just following his example. But now he was going to jail and she was getting help. Everything was perfect.

Except I wouldn't get to see _him_ again. Never again. I leaned my head back against the back of the bench with a small sigh. Something in the courthouse rafters caught my attention, pulling me out of my dreary thoughts. Sitting in the rafters was a metallic orange bird with a camera lens for an eye. I bit my tongue to keep from calling out; at least the Autobots had gotten a taste of the human justice system.

"Come on, Raven! We're going to go out for dinner tonight, remember? We've got to finish getting your bags pack!" Mandy nudged me. "And I think Julia wants to give you a hug." The baby was looking at me with wide, approving eyes. I gently scooped her up in my arms and held her close to my chest. She yawned and snuggled up, her black hair covering her head like a hat.

I walked out of the room with my family and stepped out onto the courthouse stairs. It was all finally over.

The End...?

* * *

Done! Finished! If you want a sequel, you must review! And I know this isn't the best thing I have ever written (sighs) I'm sorry. I've been sick lately (turns out I'm allergic to the medicine I've been taking) but I did my best! (Bows) thank you for reading! 

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